Lamont was a Chicago Cubs fan all his life, growing up in Kirkland, Illinois and attending Western Illinois University. He was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round, as the 13th pick, of the 1965 amateur draft, and came up with them as a September call-up in 1970, when he had 13 hits in 44 at bats. The following year, he had 1 hit in 15 at-bats. In his biggest year, he had 92 at-bats, playing as a backup to Tigers catcher Jerry Moses. After 1975, his major league career, spent entirely with the Tigers, was over. He bounced around in the minors, on triple-A Evansville (with such players as Tom Brookens and Jerry Manuel) before stopping. He ended with a lifetime batting average of .233, with 4 home runs and 14 RBI in 87 games played. He had 37 hits in 159 at-bats, and stole 1 base.\n', '

The highlight of his time as a player had been a home run in his first at bat of his career off the Boston Red Sox\' Cal Koonce. However, his career would go on as a manager, beginning in 1977 with the Kansas City Royals organization managing their single-A Fort Myers team for two years. After that, he guided the double-A Jacksonville Suns to a championship in 1982 and again in 1983, being named Southern League Manager of the Year in 1982.\n', '

Finally, after two seasons with the triple-A Omaha Royals in the minors, he worked his way up to the majors, serving as a third base coach for Jim Leyland\'s 1986 Pirates team. By the early \'90s, with the Pirates emergence as a contender, Lamont was being considered by some teams for a managing job.\n', '

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