Lanier Signs Them and Sends Them On Their Way

Ex-major leaguer Hal Lanier is operating a baseball pit stop in Winnipeg, an outpost where players come to visit, not to stay. That’s the way it is in the independent Northern League, where the goal of almost everybody is to sign on and move on.

Lanier has been at this for five years, recruiting players from here, there and everywhere. He’s brought in college players, released players, undrafted free agents, piecing together a roster and hoping they’ll be discovered.

And along the way, maybe somebody will find him, too.

“My No. 1 priority is to get players with organizations,” he said. “Right from the start, we’ve said we would never stand in any player’s way. In five years, we’ve gotten 20 players with organizations.”

That’s what the 16-team Northern League is all about--the opportunity for players to move up the baseball ladder. Some talented players have passed through the league, including J.D. Drew, who hung out there for a year after spurning Philadelphia and before signing with St. Louis. Rey Ordonez played there. So did Darryl Strawberry.

There is a major league flavor around the league with a fistful of familiar names managing teams. Besides Lanier, there’s former Cleveland manager Doc Edwards at Sioux Falls; Ron Kittle at Schamburg, Ill.; Mike Marshall, the hitter, not the pitcher, at Albany-Colonie; and Alan Gallagher at Madison, Wis.

The most impressive graduate of Lanier’s Winnipeg Goldeyes is Jeff Zimmerman, who pitched there in 1997 and is now a bullpen mainstay for the Texas Rangers, good enough to be selected for the All-Star game last summer. He is the poster boy for the chance the Northern League offers players.

That’s the kind of success story that drives Lanier, who has taken his team to the playoffs four times and to the championship game twice. He operates a rotating roster, with just 10 players on this year’s team back from last season. Ex-big leaguer Wes Chamberlain is playing for him this summer, part of a 22-man team that operates under an $85,000 salary cap.

“The goal,” Lanier said, “is to get them out of here. If I lose them, it’s very satisfying to me.”

That’s because he knows how much it means to be in an organization, to belong to a team.

He played 10 seasons in the major leagues as a productive infielder for the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees. There were three years as manager of the Houston Astros, where he won a division championship in his first season. He also managed and coached in the St. Louis system.

The game drives Lanier like a siren’s song. He’s been away from the big leagues since 1991 when he was a bench coach with Philadelphia. He never stops trying to get back.

“I know what it means to be in an organization,” he said. “I know what it means to get back. You want the opportunity to get into an organization.”

Winnipeg runs a first-class operation, selling out every game. Lanier loves the situation, but he always thinks about the big leagues, the place players call The Show.

“I’d love to get back as a coach or manager,” he said. “With my experience, 22 games over .500 for three years, why can’t I get a second chance?

“I don’t know why I’m not asked for a coaching job. We were one game away from the World Series in my first year. That’s something they can’t take away from me. I wish someone would tell me why I never got another opportunity. But that’s baseball, I guess. A lot of it is politics, friends hiring their friends. I think I have a lot to give. Triple-A would be OK. But I don’t think I have to start at A-ball again. I’d rather be here and be my own boss.”

Lanier won’t stop trying, though, for his players and for himself. The Show’s flame is tough to extinguish.

“If I didn’t still have the dream,” he said, “I wouldn’t send out those resumes.”