Samuel Crawford

Background

Samuel Earl Crawford was born on April 18, 1880 in Wahoo, Nebraska, United States. He was the son of Stephen Crawford, manager of a general store, and Mary McNulty.

Education

Crawford left school after the seventh grade.

Career

Crawford took a job as a shoeshine boy in a barbershop where he also apprenticed as a barber.

A left-handed pitcher and outfielder, he played baseball for the Killian Family Company team in Wahoo. With a wagon provided by the sponsor, the team traversed eastern Nebraska, challenging other town teams and passing the hat to cover expenses.

In 1898 Crawford was hired for two months to play for Superior, Nebraska.

Later that year he traveled to West Point, where he helped that club win the state championship.

In 1899 Crawford was recruited by John McIlvaine, a pitcher and friend, to play for the Chatham (Ontario) Club of the Canadian League for $65 per month. Crawford hit. 370 in forty-three games before the club disbanded in July. His next job was with the Columbus, Ohio, team in the Western League; the club moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in midseason. Crawford batted . 333 for sixty games. Recruited by Cincinnati in the National League, he earned $150 for the final month of the season. His major-league debut in a September double-header was auspicious, with five hits in eight times at bat. In thirty-one games he hit . 307, with two doubles and eight triples.

Crawford completed three full seasons with Cincinnati. After batting . 270 in 1900, Crawford, six feet tall and 190 pounds, developed as a leading power hitter of his day. In 1901 he ranked third in the league, with 104 runs batted in and first in the league with 16 home runs; his batting average was . 335. The following seasons he achieved star status, with twenty-three triples, 256 total bases, a slugging percentage of . 461, a . 333 batting average, 185 hits, and seventy-eight runs batted in.

His full career with Cincinnati encompassed 403 games, batting . 314, with 498 hits, including twenty-seven home runs, sixty-two triples, and fifty-two doubles. He scored 278 runs and drove in 261.

Still earning $150 per month in Cincinnati, Crawford looked for bigger and better things; the rivalry between the established National League and the new American League gave him his big opportunity. A bidding war developed for the services of Crawford and other National League stars. On the eve of the 1903 season he signed contracts with both Cincinnati and the Detroit Tigers of the American League. Rather than engage in a costly legal struggle, the two leagues made peace, and in the negotiations that followed Crawford was awarded to Detroit, where he would earn $3, 500 for the season. Crawford's outstanding career with the Detroit Tigers lasted from 1903 through 1917.

With Detroit his batting average was . 309, including seventy home runs, 250 triples, and 403 doubles, accounting for 1, 115 runs scored and 1, 264 runs batted in. Seven times he was either first or second in the league in runs batted in and total bases; six times in hits and triples; and three times in batting average, home runs, doubles, and slugging percentage. He was an adequate defensive outfielder, but his foot speed was deceptive. In accumulating his record 312 triples, his baserunning skills became evident. In his career he stole 366 bases, with a season high of 41 in 1912.

Crawford's achievements were overshadowed by his illustrious teammate Ty Cobb, who joined the Tigers late in the 1905 season. During Detroit's pennant-winning years (1907 - 1909), whenever Crawford ranked second in batting average, runs batted in, hits, doubles, runs, slugging average, or total bases, it was Cobb who ranked first. The two outfield stars were intense rivals. Davy Jones, the third Detroit outfielder from 1906 to 1912, observed that "playing by the side of two fellows like that was a good deal like being a member of the chorus of a grand opera where there are two prima donnas. " The two heroes were at their best when the Tigers emerged as league champions. In 1907 Hughie Jennings became the Detroit manager, and his skill at handling Crawford and Cobb resulted in three consecutive American League pennants. Regretably, Crawford was unable to sustain his play in the World Series. He batted just . 243 for the seventeen games, with five doubles, one home run, and six runs batted in. In the 1907 World Series the Chicago Cubs defeated the Tigers four games to none, with one tie. The next year the same clubs met in the fall classic, but the Tigers won only one of five games. In 1909 the Pittsburgh Pirates bested Detroit four games to three. After 1909 the Tigers remained competitive but failed to win a league title, finishing third in 1910 and second in 1911 and 1915. But Crawford's batting achievements continued, and he achieved personal bests in 1910, with 120 runs batted in, and in 1911, with 217 hits, 109 runs, a slugging average of . 526, and a batting average of . 378, third in the league to Cobb and Joe Jackson, who each hit over . 400. From 1913 to 1915 Crawford led the league in triples. When the club fell to third place in 1910, Crawford, speaking for his teammates, blamed the fall on "too much Cobb, " claiming that Cobb had received special treatment from the management and played for himself and not the team. Not until many years into retirement did Crawford and Cobb mellow toward each other. Cobb even lobbied actively for Crawford's election to the Hall of Fame. After the 1910 season Crawford and many of his teammates, including Cobb, toured Cuba. They played an all-star team that included black American players who took advantage of every opportunity to show their skills outside their own segregated leagues and teams. The American leaguers won seven of twelve games. Three years later Crawford joined a postseason round-the-world tour organized by John McGraw. From October 18, 1913, to March 6, 1914, two teams of players traveled and played exhibition games in Japan, China, Australia, Egypt, Italy, France, England, and Ireland. Fortunately for Crawford, still productive late in his major-league career, the new Federal League began in the 1914 season. This upstart league, trying to sign established stars, approached Crawford with an attractive offer. Crawford's salary with the Tigers had reached $4, 000 in 1908 and $5, 000 in 1912 and 1913. World Series shares for the Tigers had added about $2, 000 to his earnings in 1907, $870 in 1908, and $1, 275 in 1909. The Tigers' owner, Frank Navin, welcoming Crawford back from his world tour, signed him in 1914 to a four-year contract at $7, 500 per year. In 1914 and 1915 Crawford led the league in triples and runs batted in. In 1915 he appeared in 156 games, one less than the previous year, and batted . 299. Crawford struck out only eighty-eight times in 1, 803 times at bat from 1913 through 1915. Nevertheless, Jennings announced at the start of the 1916 season that Crawford was slowing down and hurting the team. That year Crawford appeared in 100 games and batted . 286. Many of his appearances were as a pinch hitter, and his eight hits led the league in that category. For his final major-league season in 1917, Crawford played in sixty-one games and batted . 173. In late August, a traditional testimonial game for him was held in Detroit. Crawford received $1, 200 in gifts and left for Los Angeles. He then began a four-year stint with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League, accumulating a . 326 batting average. In 1919 he peaked at . 360, with fourteen home runs, forty-one doubles, and eighteen triples. Two years later, Crawford hit . 318, with 199 hits in 175 games. His playing days over, he moved to other baseball pursuits.

In 1927 Crawford began a lifelong affiliation with the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America. Organized in Los Angeles in 1924, the association was formed to provide services to retired ballplayers in need. From 1939 to 1942 Crawford served as treasurer.

From 1935 to 1938 he returned to organized baseball as an umpire in the Pacific Coast League.

During World War II he worked in a defense plant.

Throughout his Southern California "retirement, " Crawford lived in a number of communities, but in his last years he divided his time between Hollywood and a small home in the desert community of Pearblossom. After the war he became something of a recluse. He would spend long periods of time alone in the desert while his wife remained in Hollywood. He did not have a telephone or read the newspapers, and the television was turned on only for an occasional World Series game. During this period Crawford read Balzac and the nineteenth-century philosopher Robert G. Ingersoll. When the news arrived in 1957 that Crawford had been elected by the special committee on veterans to the Hall of Fame, his neighbors knew nothing of his baseball exploits. At the induction ceremony on July 22, 1957, in Cooperstown, New York, Crawford was overcome by emotion and said only a few words.

He died in Hollywood.

Achievements

• In 1924 he became the first official baseball coach at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. During his six-year tenure, the team registered fifty-nine victories, forty-six defeats, and three ties. Crawford was one of the premier power hitters of baseball's deadball era. He played in 2, 505 major-league games and batted . 309, with 9, 579 times at bat and 2, 964 hits, including 95 home runs and 455 doubles. He was the only player to lead both major leagues in home runs; he held the record for most triples in a career, 312.

Connections

In October 1901 Crawford married Ada Lattin of Wahoo; they had two children. His first wife died and he married Mary Blazen in July 1943.

Father:

Stephen Crawford

manager

Mother:

Mary McNulty

Spouse:

Ada Lattin

Spouse:

Mary Blazen

Friend:

John McIlvaine

References

• Peach: Ty Cobb In His Time And Ours
• The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)