All Is Forgiven

Baseball's 18 bad boys, who went over the hill to the ill-fated Mexican League, had sat out in the cold for three years. Barred from organized baseball, Max Lanier, ex-pitching star for the St. Louis Cardinals, made a living with Drummondville of the outlaw Quebec Provincial League; ex-Dodger Catcher Mickey Owen tried his hand as an auctioneer and played semi-pro ball in South Dakota; others played for peanuts in Venezuela.

This week, with baseball's vulnerable "reserve clause" contracts (TIME, Feb. 21) still under fire and $2,800,000 in law suits pending, Commissioner A. B. ("Happy") Chandler told the prodigals that all was forgiven. All 18 were reinstated to the clubs they played for three years ago. Said Lanier, eager to get back with the Cardinals, whom he was suing for $1,500,000: "I'm delighted . . . but I won't give up my original case against the people who tossed me out of baseball."

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