Player Profile

Biography / Info

• Sam Crawford played major league baseball from 1899 to 1917.
• Crawford was a part of one of the greatest outfields in American League history. At first playing alongside Ty Cobb and Davy Jones and later with Cobb and Bobby Veach.
• While not gifted with amazing speed, he had a great sense on the basepaths. Totaled 311 career triples, number 1 all time. He led the league 6 times in triples, 2 times in home runs, 3 times in runs batted in and once in runs scored. He batted over .300 eleven times (all in the dead ball era) in his career but never captured a batting title, finishing 2nd three times. 
• His father owned the Wahoo general store but Sam became an apprentice barber and played ball for the Wahoo towns team. Here he was tagged with 'Wahoo Sam', a nickname he carried with him through his adult life. He soon signed all autographs and letters with 'Wahoo Sam Crawford'. 
• Played outfield and also pitched during the 1890's and was first noticed in May of 1899 by John McIlvaine, who was a player with the Chatham club of the Canadian League.  He quickly ended his career cutting hair and signed on with the club for $65 a month. The league however folded in July but Sam was able to land a job with Columbia of the Western League. He batted .333 in 60 games and was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds in September.

His Playing Days

• 1899: Was able to get into 31 games with the Reds and went 5 for 8 in a doubleheader in his major league debut. 
• 1901: Led the National League in home runs with 16. The total for the league was only 227.
• 1903: Making only $150 a month, Crawford, along with other National Leaguers, were being lured away to the upstart American League. The Detroit Tigers were offering him $3,500 per season. However, he also had signed a contract with his Reds. Through an agreement made by the two leagues, a peace agreement was reached  and Crawford was awarded to the Tigers, despite fierce objections from the Reds.
• 1905: Ty Cobb arrives in Detroit and soon the two became the best one-two batting tandem for years to come. Their relationship, while not the greatest, was adequate for the two to play in the same outfield for over a dozen years. Cobb was a hard man, while Crawford was an articulate and well liked man. Years later, long after their playing days were over, Cobb campaigned for Crawford's induction into the Hall of Fame. 
• 1907-1909: Part of three straight pennant winning Tigers teams. Unfortunately, Crawford and Cobb couldn't pull out one of the World Series' and each finished their careers without ever winning one. Crawford batted .243 in his 17 World Series games.

Post Major League

• 1918-1921: Was offered to play in the Pacific Coast League with Los Angeles. At age 38, he and his wife, Mary, moved west where he spent four years with the Angels. He batted .292, .360, .332, and .318 and retired after the 1921 season.
• 1935-1938: Umpired for 4 seasons in the the Pacific Coast League but gave it up calling it a thankless and lonely job.

Hall of Fame

• 1957: The man who led a quiet life after baseball, so quiet his neighbors never knew he was a baseball great, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Career Statistics