He appeared in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and pinch hitter in ten games during the 1946 season for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants.

Lawing threw and batted right-handed; he stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 180 pounds (82 kg).

He had reached the Class A1 (now Double-A) level in 1943 when, after only 24 games played, he entered the United States Army.

Lawing served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II[1] and missed the 1944 and 1945 baseball seasons.

He split 1946 between the Reds and the Giants, going hitless in three at bats with Cincinnati as a centerfielder and pinch hitter in two games played on May 29 and June 6.