John Leonard "Doc" Lavan (October 28, 1890 – May 29, 1952) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

, Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Senators, and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. Born in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, Lavan attended both

Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matricu ...

and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1908 to 1911 before playing in the major leagues. Lavan played in 1,163 major league games, of which 1,126 were at the shortstop position. In 11 seasons, Lavan had a lifetime batting average of .245 with 954 hits, 377 RBIs, 338 runs scored, and 186 extra base hits. He had his best season as a batter in 1920 when he hit .289 with 32 extra base hits and 63 RBIs. Lavan also had good range as a shortstop. His range factor of 5.69 in 1916 was 0.77 points higher than the average shortstop that year. And in 1921, Lavan had 382 putouts, 540 assists, and 88 double plays. He had a tendency to bobble or boot the balls when he got to them. He led American League shortstops in errors four times: 1915 (75), 1918 (57), 1920 (50), and 1921 (49). In September 1917 (after Lavan committed 75 errors), Browns owner Phil Ball accused his players of lying down on the job. Lavan and second baseman Del Pratt sued Ball for slander, and Lavan was promptly traded to the Senators. Lavan was known as "Doc" because he was actually a medical doctor. He was a lieutenant surgeon in the U.S. Navy during World War I and also served in World War II. He retired from military service after World War II as a Commander for the Naval Reserve. Lavan was a practicing medical doctor, who also served as a city health officer in New York City,

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Kansas City, Missouri,

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and

. He also served as Director of Research for the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis. Lavan died in 1952 at Harper Hospital in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. He was 61 years old. Lavan is one of a small number of former major league players who was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

in Arlington, Virginia.

References

External links

Baseball-Reference.comSABR
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lavan, Doc 1890 births 1952 deaths Major League Baseball shortstops St. Louis Browns players Philadelphia Athletics players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players St. Louis Cardinals players Muskegon Reds players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Lincoln Links players Minor league baseball managers Michigan Wolverines baseball players Baseball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan Sportspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy personnel of World War II Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Kansas City Blues (baseball) managers Physicians from Michigan United States Navy Medical Corps officers United States Navy reservists Holland Wooden Shoes players