During his playing days, his height was listed at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), his weight as 165 pounds (75 kg), and he batted and threw right-handed.

He worked his way through the system over the next few seasons, culminating with a three-season stint with the Providence Grays of the Eastern League from 1909 to 1911.

Lavender's early success as a rookie soon turned to mediocrity as his career progressed, winning no more than 11 games in any season afterward.

[1] He attended public schools until the age of 15, when he was enrolled at Gordon College, a military academy located in Barnesville.

[2] He later attended Georgia Tech and studied mechanical engineering; he played a few games for his class' baseball team as well.

[3] In 1906, at the age of 22, he began his professional baseball career with the Cordele team in the class-D Georgia State League.

[4] It was during this time period that a scout who worked for Connie Mack discovered Lavender, who then sent him through a training camp and assigned him to the Holyoke Papermakers of the class-B Connecticut League in 1908; he finished with a 21–17 win–loss record.

[3][6] The Providence team owner, Frank Navin (who also owned the Detroit Tigers of the American League (AL)), appealed the transaction to the National Commission, forerunner to the modern-day Commissioner of Baseball.

[12] Lavender took a 33-inning consecutive scoreless inning streak into his next start, a home game against the New York Giants and pitcher Rube Marquard.

I know how I felt after Lavender beat me in Chicago last year after I had won nineteen straight, and I can sympathize with the Washington youngster.

[20] He completed his rookie season with his career-high 16 victories, against 13 losses, and a 3.04 earned run average (ERA) in 2512⁄3 innings pitched.

[1] To begin the 1913 season, Lavender was the team's opening day starting pitcher in a 5–3 loss to St. Louis on April 12.

[22] Lavender showed signs of improvement, surrendering just three hits in a 12–2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 30, followed by a 5–1 win over the Reds on July 3.

[1] His initial appearance of the 1914 season was in relief on April 17, a game in which he pitched 42⁄3 innings, and gave up three runs in 6–5 victory over the Reds.

[23] Lavender created a controversy in a game on September 23, when he was caught altering the baseball by rubbing it against an emery board that he had attached to his uniform's pant leg, an illegal act.

[26] As a result of this incident, AL president, Ban Johnson, decreed that any pitcher in his league caught using sandpaper to alter the baseball, would be suspended for 30 days and fined $100.

[28][29] At the conclusion of the season, the Cubs played the Chicago White Sox of the American League in an exhibition series.

The New York Sun noted that Kauff's single was as a result of a ground ball that took a bad hop and bounced away from the fielder.

[1] On December 19, 1916, it was reported that during the NL meetings, Chicago had traded Lavender's rights to the Phillies for pitcher Al Demaree.

[34] He made his Philadelphia debut on April 27, pitching a complete-game victory against the Giants, allowing five hits and one run.

[35] He soon began to falter, giving up four earned runs in four innings against the Cubs on May 22 and losing consecutive starts against New York and Pittsburgh.

[39] The San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League expressed interest in Lavender, but he stressed that he was retired and that he would only consider a trade to Atlanta of the Southern Association so that he could be near his farm in Montezuma.

[1] Author Vincent Starrett, who penned The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, created a series of short stories featuring a gentlemanly, cultured detective named "Jimmie Lavender".