| Overall UK Wins: 67 | Overall UK Losses: 19 | Win % 77.9 |
Date of Birth: February 1, 1896
Date of Death: March 19, 1981
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.

Obituary - Cincinnati Enquirer (March 21, 1981)

'Trader Frank' Lane Dies

by Bob Rathgeber

Frank Lane, a Cincinnati native and one of the most colorful baseball executives in baseball history, is dead at the age of 85.

Lane died Thursday after a long illness in the Apple Tree Nursing Home in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb.

He headed baseball operations for six different major league clubs and served in related capacities with several other teams in a career that spanned nearly 50 years.

Lane was known as "Trader Frank," and baseball experts estimate he made more than 400 trades as a general manager. it is estimated he arranged 241 deals involving more than 350 players with the White Sox alone.

Lane's first association with baseball came in 1933 with the Cincinnati Reds when general manager Larry MacPhail hired Lane as the club's farm director, traveling secretary and publicity chief.

In 1941 he resigned and entered the Navy. He was the first baseball executive to enlist in the service and head the Air Force, Atlantic Fleet Physical, Military and Survival Training program.

AFTER WORLD War II, Lane joined the New York Yankees organization as farm director and general manager of their top farm club in Kansas City. The next year he was elected president of the American Association before getting his first general manager's job in 1948 with the Chicago White Sox.

Lane quit in 1955 and went to the St. Louis Cardinals as general manager. Two years later he moved to Cleveland. He wen to Kansas City in 1961, but spent less than a season there. Fired in August after an argument with owner Charles O. Finley when he had seven years left on his contract, Lane won a $113,000 court settlement following that dispute.

Lane switched to basketball in 1962 to serve as general manager of the Chicago Zephyrs, who later became the Baltimore Bullets. Two years later, he was hired by the Baltimore Orioles as a special assistant to Lee MacPhail, the club's general manager and son of the man who gave Lane his start in Cincinnati.

At age 74 in 1971, Lane went to Milwaukee Brewers as director of baseball operations. In recent years, before moving to the Apple Tree Nursing Home, Lane spent a great deal of time in Acapulco, Mexico.

LANE WAS often a center of controversy throughout his career.

While with the White Sox, he was fined $500 by commissioner Ford Frick for complaining loudly and profanely about an umpire's call to American League President Will Harridge. When he was censured by White Sox owner Charles Comiskey for his conduct, the general manager quit with five years remaining on his contract.

Lane drew sharp criticism in St. Louis trading away many favorites, such as Red Schoendienst. When he talked about dealing Stan Musial, Cardinals' owner August A. Busch stepped in and ordered Lane to cease with any plans he had in trading the Cardinal great. Lane often said he was fired by Busch when he threatened to trade Musial and the Clydesdale horses on successive days.

He also offered the New York Giants $1 million for Willie Mays, but Giants owner Horace Stoneham turned him down.

He made trading history in Cleveland. First, he sent the American League's home run king, Rocky Colavito, to Detroit for AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn, then negotiated a trade of managers, swapping the Indians' Joe Gordon for Detroit skipper Jimmy Dykes.

LANE EVEN once offered to trade his entire team, the 1953 White Sox for he 1953 Detroit Tigers.

When criticized for trading fan favorites, Lane often replied sarcastically, "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have taken a vote of the fans before I made the deal."

Lane made several pitches to purchase teams, but never succeeded. He made offers for the Reds, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. "I had a group that bid on the Reds when Bill DeWitt bought, but we were disappointed," Lane once said.

"I tried to buy Boston to put Ted Williams as my manager. I was interested in Washington until the price got over $6 million. That's no price for club that drew only 520,000."

Lane was a favorite with newspaper writers. He would often call the sports department during the winter, propose a trade and then take delight in the headlines the story received the next morning.

Lane was well-known nationally as a football and basketball official. He also played semi-pro football with the Cincinnati Celts in the 1920's where he played right guard. He also played for the Ironton Tanks.

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