Max Lanier Marquee

b. August 18, 1915 · St. Louis Cardinals 1938–1946, 1949–1951, New York Giants 1952–1953, St. Louis Browns 1953

He went 15-7 with a 1.90 earned run average in 1943, the lowest in the league, and won games in the 1942, 1943 and 1944 World Series for St. Louis. In May 1946, 6-0 with a 1.93, he took an offer from the Mexican League — as did more than a dozen other major-leaguers — and the commissioner banned them all for five years.

He pitched in Mexico and in barnstorming leagues, sued baseball over the ban and dropped the suit when the commissioner lifted it in 1949. He came back at thirty-three and pitched five more seasons without the fastball he had left with.

Fourteen seasons gave him 108 wins against 82, a 3.01 earned run average, 1,619 innings and 21 shutouts, with two All-Star selections. His son Hal played eight seasons. No Hall of Fame ballot ever listed him. He died in 2007, at ninety-one.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
All-Star selection	2	1943, 1944

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1938	STL	18	10	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.100
1939	STL	7	14	1	4	0	0	0	1	1	.286
1940	STL	35	30	3	6	0	0	0	1	5	.200
1941	STL	35	52	3	10	0	0	0	1	5	.192
1942	STL	34	47	6	12	0	0	4	5	5	.255
1943	STL	32	73	8	12	0	0	5	1	5	.164
1944	STL	33	77	11	14	1	0	2	4	2	.182
1945	STL	4	11	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	.182
1946	STL	6	25	1	5	0	0	2	1	1	.200
1949	STL	15	27	1	2	0	0	1	3	1	.074
1950	STL	27	68	5	11	1	1	10	3	10	.162
1951	STL	31	53	2	8	0	0	1	1	5	.151
1952	NYG	38	41	4	11	2	0	2	1	4	.268
1953	NYG/SLB	13	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	.143
Career	—	328	535	46	99	4	1	27	23	45	.185

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1938	STL	0	3	18	3	0	45.0	57	21	28	14	4.20
1939	STL	2	1	7	6	0	37.2	29	10	13	14	2.39
1940	STL	9	6	35	11	3	105.0	113	39	38	49	3.34
1941	STL	10	8	35	18	3	153.0	126	48	59	93	2.82
1942	STL	13	8	34	20	2	161.0	137	53	60	93	2.96
1943	STL	15	7	32	25	3	213.1	195	45	75	123	1.90
1944	STL	17	12	33	30	0	224.1	192	66	71	141	2.65
1945	STL	2	2	4	3	0	26.0	22	5	8	16	1.73
1946	STL	6	0	6	6	0	56.0	45	12	19	36	1.93
1949	STL	5	4	15	15	0	92.0	92	39	35	37	3.82
1950	STL	11	9	27	27	0	181.1	173	63	68	89	3.13
1951	STL	11	9	31	23	1	160.0	149	58	50	59	3.26
1952	NYG	7	12	37	16	5	137.0	124	60	65	47	3.94
1953	NYG/SLB	0	1	13	1	0	27.2	36	22	22	10	7.16
Career	—	108	82	327	204	17	1619.1	1490	541	611	821	3.01

On this day & linked events

1915

Born August 18, 1915

Denton, NC, USA

2007

Died January 30, 2007

1938

Major-league debut: Max Lanier

Max Lanier made a major-league debut on April 20, 1938.

1953

Final major-league game: Max Lanier

Max Lanier played a final major-league game on July 4, 1953.

Image: Bowman Gum, public domain