Death and Reputation
Lane would gain fame (and sometimes infamy) for his many transactions, earning nicknames such as "Trader Frank," "Frantic Frank," "Trader Lane," and "The Wheeler Dealer" for the more than 400 trades he made in his career, including 241 with the White Sox alone. In addition to dealing star players such as Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, and Roger Maris, Lane also dispatched future Hall of Famers Enos Slaughter, Red Schoendienst, and Early Wynn. When he also tried to trade the legendary Stan Musial, Cardinals owner Gussie Busch blocked the transaction.
Yet players were not the only people involved in Lane's transactions - in 1960, during his tenure with the Indians, he dealt manager Joe Gordon in exchange for Detroit Tigers skipper Jimmy Dykes.
He died in a Dallas, Texas nursing home at 84 years of age. In Bobby Bragan's book You Can't Hit the Ball With the Bat On Your Shoulder, Bragan wrote that he was asked by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office to represent them at the funeral. Bragan would be the lone baseball official to attend Lane's rites.
Read more about this topic: Frank Lane, Biography
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or reputation:
“During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank, God only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink rather than the drink to the insanity. I had indeed, nearly abandoned all hope of a permanent cure when I found one in the death of my wife.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)