Max Lanier, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetMax Lanier
American baseball player
Date of Birth: 18-Aug-1915
Place of Birth: Denton, North Carolina, United States
Date of Death: 30-Jan-2007
Profession: baseball player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Leo 
About Max Lanier
- Hubert Max Lanier (August 18, 1915 – January 30, 2007) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who spent most of his career with the St.
- Louis Cardinals.
- He led the National League in earned run average in 1943, and was the winning pitcher of the clinching game in the 1944 World Series against the crosstown St.
- Louis Browns.
- His son Hal became a major league infielder and manager. Born in Denton, North Carolina, Lanier was one of a handful of players who remained active during the World War II years.
- A naturally right-handed player, he had become a left-handed pitcher only because he twice broke his right arm in childhood.
- After signing with the Cardinals in 1937, he reached the major leagues in 1938.
- He had arguably his best season in 1943, compiling a 15–7 record with a league-best 1.90 ERA.
- In 1944 he won a career-high 17 games, and was the winner of the final game of the World Series against the crosstown Browns.
- He was named an NL All-Star in both 1943 and 1944. Lanier, along with a dozen other major leaguers, defected to the Mexican League in 1946 after being offered a salary nearly double what he was making with the Cardinals.
- Disappointed by poor playing conditions and allegedly broken contract promises, he tried to return to the Cardinals in 1948, but was barred by an order from commissioner Happy Chandler, imposing a five-year suspension on all players who had jumped to the Mexican League.
- In response, Lanier and teammate Fred Martin, as well as Danny Gardella of the New York Giants, sued Major League Baseball in federal court, challenging baseball's reserve clause as a violation of U.S.
- antitrust law (preceding the similar suit by Curt Flood some 25 years later).
- Chandler reinstated Lanier and the other players in June 1949.
- Lanier immediately held out for more money than he was being paid at the time of his leaving for Mexico, but eventually signed a contract paying him the same amount as in 1946.Lanier rejoined the Cardinals in 1949.
- After winning a total of 101 games for the club, he ended his career with the New York Giants (1952–53) and the Browns (1953). Over fourteen seasons, Lanier posted a 108–82 record with 821 strikeouts and a 3.01 ERA in 1619?1/3 innings pitched, including 21 shutouts and 91 complete games. Lanier died at age 91 in Dunnellon, Florida.
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