Frank Lane, one of the most colorful characters in baseball history, has largely been forgotten. Bob Vanderberg, though, didn’t forget.
My former Chicago Tribune colleague and fellow loyal White Sox fan, nails the twists and turns of his eventful career in a new biography, Frantic Frank Lane: Baseball’s Ultimate Wheeler-Dealer.
Beginning with the White Sox in the 50s, Lane earned a reputation for trading anyone and everyone. While GM of the Cardinals, he even tried to deal Stan Musial to Philadelphia for Robin Roberts. August Busch didn’t allow it to go through.
In a Q/A, Vanderberg discusses Lane and makes the case why he should be in the Hall of Fame.
Why a book on Frank Lane? Sound like quite a character.
I kept waiting for one to be done—it never was, so I decided to do it (I had a couple hours of tape from a 1978 interview with him, so I had a start). I talked with Jimmy Piersall a few times about playing against the White Sox in the ’50s, and he always admired their style of play. Well, Lane was the guy who got the players that enabled them to play that style—Minnie Minoso, Nellie Fox, Chico Carrasquel, Jim Rivera, etc. Jimmy called him the most colorful baseball GM/owner of all time—“nobody close to him. Steinbrenner couldn’t carry his jock.”
He was always in the middle of the biggest trade talks. He loved the spotlight. Very quotable. (although you had to clean up the quotes….!) And he didn’t mind if he was quoted incorrectly. He told me: “I’d never give a damn if I was misquoted—the worst thing that could happen was if they didn’t quote me.”
How much of his reputation was built on the volume of his trades as opposed to the quality of his trades?
The usual response you get is that Lane was a compulsive dealer who just HAD to make a trade.
As Joe Garagiola said: “Not only was he not afraid to make a deal, he was afraid NOT to make a deal.” His boss in Milwaukee, Bud Selig, said: “I used to kid Frank that he thought he got paid by the number of deals he made.”
But I believe the quality of his trades—especially the ones that built the White Sox into sudden contenders—is what established his reputation. I mean, a veteran backup catcher, Aaron Robinson, 33, for a kid lefty, Billy Pierce, 21; another backup catcher, Joe Tipton, for a 22-year-old second baseman, Nelson Fox…. sending two minor-leaguers and $25 grand to the Dodgers for one of Branch Rickey’s less-valued shortstop prospects, the Venezuelan flash, Chico Carrasquel; a three-team deal in which Lane gave up little and gained Orestes “Minnie” Minoso, the 1951 Rookie of the Year….. and the list goes on…
What were his best trades and worst trades?
Best ones, I’ve always thought, were Tipton for Fox; Aaron Robinson and 10,000 bucks for Pierce; the Minoso deal; as Cleveland GM, traded aging Larry Doby to Detroit (March 1959) for Tito Francona, who went on to hit .363 that season with 20 homers in a pennant bid that fell just short; and as Angels superscout and acting GM in December 1977, traded Bobby Bonds, young OF Thad Bosley and 18-yr-old pitcher Richard Dotson to White Sox for catcher Brian Downing (who became one of that franchise’s all-time stars) and young pitchers Dave Frost and Chris Knapp, who became key starting pitchers in the Angels’ drive to the AL West title in 1979.
Worst? In spring training 1960, he traded Norm Cash (one of his original signees out of college) to the Tigers for a minor-league infielders named Steve Demeter, who had one big-league hit; Rocky Colavito, hero of Cleveland’s younger set and 1959 AL home run champ dealt to Detroit day before 1960 season began for AL batting champ Harvey Kuenn. Lane hated to this day by many Clevelanders; twice sold the amazing knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, once from St Louis to Cleveland and once from Cleveland to Baltimore; Cardinals CF and 1955 Rookie of the Year Bill VIrdon to the Pirates in May 1956 for CF Bobby DelGreco, a dandy glove man but a .230 hitter at best; Roger Maris, 1B Preston Ward and LHP Dick Tomanek from Cleveland to Kansas City for 1B Vic Power and SS Woodie Held. Maris, then riding the Tribe bench, turned into the Yankees’ 61-homer man in 1961.
How would Lane have been in today’s climate with free agency and big-money salaries?
Piersall, who played for him, said, “No, he couldn’t operate today. He wouldn’t have the patience.” But Selig and author Roger Kahn, who know him well, were certain he’d have been able to change with the times. This guy, remember, had a great mind. He was constantly coming up with new ideas. A mind that can do that would be able to handle anything. Look, he was head of several MLB committees, one of which studied expansion in the early ’50s (he predicted two 10-team leagues by 1961 and, soon after, two 12-team leagues, with 6-team divisions)….. he led the fight for making batting helmets/liners compulsory; he said baseball had to have one set of “Major League” umpires, not one for the AL and another for the NL (it finally came to pass in 2000); and he carried the flag for adoption of the “designated pinch hitter” rule as early as 1967—-and then, five years after the rule was adopted, he argued that it was no longer needed and it should be gotten rid of…
He would enjoy being in the spotlight, battling the other clubs in the off-season for the top available stars—as he had back in 1953 for All-Star 1B and two-time batting champ Ferris Fain (seemingly headed to the Yankees until Lane got him in a huge trade with the A’s ) and in 1954 with All-Star 3B and former batting champ George Kell (acquired from the Red Sox for a player and $125,000).
Is there anyone comparable to him today in any sports, not just baseball?
Only guy I can think of would be Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavs owner who is fairly flamboyant and probably a bit goofy. I’m racking my steadily shrinking brain, but I can’t think of anyone.
Make the case for him being inducted into the Hall despite not being a GM for any pennant winner?
You always hear the phrase “in the best interests of baseball.” Just about everything Frank Lane did was in the best interests of baseball. When he was your team’s GM, you could be assured that he was keeping your team in the headlines and, most of the time, in contention. His trades always kept the pot boiling.
Here’s Bud Selig’s take on Frank: “I think Frank does belong in the Hall of Fame. His impact on our sport and on so many franchises was really critical, and he was one of those individuals who, when you met, you would never forget. He was a remarkable human being.”