MLB / Players

Max Lanier

HandednessBats Right · Throws Left

Listed at5 ft 11 in · 180 lb

BornAugust 18, 1915 · Denton, NC, USA

MLB debutApril 20, 1938

Final gameJuly 4, 1953

Seasons14 (1938–1953)

St. Louis Cardinals 1938–1946; St. Louis Cardinals 1949–1951; New York Giants 1952–1953; St. Louis Browns 1953

Percentile snapshot

1951 season — qualified pitchers

11.5

17.3

28.8

69.2

42.3

19.2

SHO

38.5

149

90.4

96.2

5.8

67.3

160.0

5.8

ERA

3.26

71.2

WHIP

1.244

78.8

K/9

3.32

28.8

FIP

3.74

FIP-

94.5

40.4

ERA+

121.1

69.2

sWAR

2.7

46.2

of 53 qualified 1951 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

125.3

94.1

sWAR

30.2

96.6

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1938	18	11	10	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.100	.182	.100	.282	-29.5	-22.4	.152	0.3
1939	7	16	14	1	4	0	0	0	1	1	.286	.333	.286	.619	62.4	63.7	.297	1.2
1940	35	32	30	3	6	0	0	0	1	5	.200	.226	.200	.426	6.0	16.2	.202	1.8
1941	35	55	52	3	10	0	0	0	1	5	.192	.208	.192	.400	-2.4	10.9	.191	3.1
1942	34	56	47	6	12	0	0	4	5	5	.255	.327	.255	.582	69.7	68.5	.291	2.8
1943	32	85	73	8	12	0	0	5	1	5	.164	.176	.164	.340	-20.7	-1.7	.164	5.7
1944	33	87	77	11	14	1	0	2	4	2	.182	.222	.195	.417	12.0	19.2	.203	4.5
1945	4	11	11	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	.182	.182	.182	.364	-11.2	1.6	.171	0.8
1946	6	26	25	1	5	0	0	2	1	1	.200	.231	.200	.431	7.5	21.8	.211	1.6
1949	15	34	27	1	2	0	0	1	3	1	.074	.167	.074	.241	-40.0	-33.9	.136	1.1
1950	27	75	68	5	11	1	1	10	3	10	.162	.197	.206	.403	-7.7	4.7	.188	4.0
1951	31	57	53	2	8	0	0	1	1	5	.151	.167	.151	.318	-30.2	-13.9	.149	2.7
1952	38	47	41	4	11	2	0	2	1	4	.268	.286	.317	.603	59.7	66.8	.277	1.3
1953	13	7	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	.143	.143	.143	.286	-44.2	-23.0	.132	-0.7

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1938	18	3	0	3	0	1	0	57	21	28	14	1	45.0	4.20	1.889	2.80	4.40	111.2	94.2	0.3
1939	7	6	2	1	0	2	0	29	10	13	14	0	37.7	2.39	1.115	3.35	3.18	77.4	172.0	1.2
1940	35	11	9	6	3	4	2	113	39	38	49	1	105.0	3.34	1.438	4.20	3.05	76.5	119.3	1.8
1941	35	18	10	8	3	8	2	126	48	59	93	4	153.0	2.82	1.209	5.47	2.87	75.9	133.8	3.1
1942	34	20	13	8	2	8	2	137	53	60	93	4	161.0	2.96	1.224	5.20	2.61	76.0	115.9	2.8
1943	32	25	15	7	3	14	2	195	45	75	123	3	213.3	1.90	1.266	5.19	2.58	76.5	177.9	5.7
1944	33	30	17	12	0	16	5	192	66	71	141	5	224.3	2.65	1.172	5.66	2.55	72.0	133.9	4.5
1945	4	3	2	2	0	3	0	22	5	8	16	0	26.0	1.73	1.154	5.54	2.33	61.7	218.0	0.8
1946	6	6	6	0	0	6	2	45	12	19	36	1	56.0	1.93	1.143	5.79	2.34	67.4	179.9	1.6
1949	15	15	5	4	0	4	1	92	39	35	37	5	92.0	3.82	1.380	3.62	3.57	86.7	108.0	1.1
1950	27	27	11	9	0	10	2	173	63	68	89	13	181.3	3.13	1.329	4.42	3.55	83.4	136.1	4.0
1951	31	23	11	9	1	9	2	149	58	50	59	14	160.0	3.26	1.244	3.32	3.74	94.5	121.1	2.7
1952	37	16	7	12	5	6	1	124	60	65	47	11	137.0	3.94	1.380	3.09	4.26	114.2	94.8	1.3
1953	13	1	0	1	0	0	0	36	22	22	10	3	27.7	7.16	2.096	3.25	5.65	138.3	57.1	-0.7

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

328

599

535

RBI

.1850

OBP

.2186

SLG

.1963

OPS

.4149

Pitching

G (P)

327

204

108

470th-most career CG

SHO

232nd-most career SHO

1,619

SO (P)

821

BB allowed

611

ERA

3.007

176th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2974

K/9

4.56

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	TB
1950-06-04	PHI @ STL Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	3	4
1950-04-24	STL @ CIN Gameday	4	0	2	1	0	1	3
1943-07-24	ATL @ STL Gameday	3	1	2	0	0	1	2
1943-07-31	LAD @ STL Gameday	4	0	2	0	0	1	2
1944-10-09	BAL @ STL Gameday	2	0	2	0	0	1	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1944-05-20	SF @ STL Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	2	11
1943-09-05	CIN @ STL Gameday	8.0	9	2	1	1	10
1944-07-02	LAD @ STL Gameday	14.0	7	1	1	5	9
1940-09-22	STL @ CHC Gameday	9.0	7	1	1	5	9
1941-05-27	CHC @ STL Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	1	9

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.