Post by efg72 on Jan 9, 2023 19:44:34 GMT -5
Rogers Hornsby famously quipped: "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Sam Crawford, on the other hand, chose to keep busy, as depicted in this off-season photo taken in the basement of his Detroit residence. "Wahoo Sam"—like Pete Browning before him and Ted Williams in later years—was obsessed with his lumber. A talented craftsman, he occasionally designed and carved his own bats. Crawford later created custom models for several prominent players, including Babe Ruth, who put his to good use during the 1923 season—until he was barred from doing so (but that's a story for another day).
It's only fitting that Ruth, who revolutionized the game with a barrage of long balls at the dawn of the lively ball era, owned a bat made by Crawford—a slugging lefty who went against the grain by taking a healthy cut on nearly every pitch. Most observers believed the all-time triples leader (309) would've been a world-class home run hitter had he played during the 1920s or later.
"I've seen right fielders, playing against the fence, catch five fly balls off Crawford's bat in one game," recalled H. G. Salsinger of The Detroit News, "five fly balls that would have cleared the fence any time after the season of 1920."
Ty Cobb offered equally high praise for his longtime teammate. "With the rabbit ball they’re playing with today," he declared, "[Crawford] would have been one of the greatest home run hitters of all time."
There's no need to lament Crawford's fate, however: He was among the Deadball Era's finest sluggers—able to wallop hangers and blazing fastballs alike into the farthest reaches of the sprawling, asymmetrical gardens that once dotted the big-league landscape. (Historian Bill Jenkinson wrote that Sam's drives "occasionally near[ed] the 450-foot mark.")
Besides pacing the loop in triples six times, he also captured two home run crowns, topping out with 16 in 1901, and ranked among the top five in the category eight other times. His name haunts the era's offensive leaderboards like few others. Between 1901 and 1910, Crawford ranked among MLB's top five in hits (2nd), doubles (4th), triples (1st), home runs (3rd), and RBI (2nd). Despite retiring in 1917, he finished among the next decade's top performers as well: 135 triples (3rd), 39 homers (19th), and 697 RBI (7th).
"While we are no sculptor, we believe that if we were and were looking for a model for a statue of a slugger, we would choose Sam Crawford for that role.” — Baseball Magazine, 1916
✍️ Bobby King II
◾Sources: baseballhall.org + www.baseball-reference.com + sabr.org
It's only fitting that Ruth, who revolutionized the game with a barrage of long balls at the dawn of the lively ball era, owned a bat made by Crawford—a slugging lefty who went against the grain by taking a healthy cut on nearly every pitch. Most observers believed the all-time triples leader (309) would've been a world-class home run hitter had he played during the 1920s or later.
"I've seen right fielders, playing against the fence, catch five fly balls off Crawford's bat in one game," recalled H. G. Salsinger of The Detroit News, "five fly balls that would have cleared the fence any time after the season of 1920."
Ty Cobb offered equally high praise for his longtime teammate. "With the rabbit ball they’re playing with today," he declared, "[Crawford] would have been one of the greatest home run hitters of all time."
There's no need to lament Crawford's fate, however: He was among the Deadball Era's finest sluggers—able to wallop hangers and blazing fastballs alike into the farthest reaches of the sprawling, asymmetrical gardens that once dotted the big-league landscape. (Historian Bill Jenkinson wrote that Sam's drives "occasionally near[ed] the 450-foot mark.")
Besides pacing the loop in triples six times, he also captured two home run crowns, topping out with 16 in 1901, and ranked among the top five in the category eight other times. His name haunts the era's offensive leaderboards like few others. Between 1901 and 1910, Crawford ranked among MLB's top five in hits (2nd), doubles (4th), triples (1st), home runs (3rd), and RBI (2nd). Despite retiring in 1917, he finished among the next decade's top performers as well: 135 triples (3rd), 39 homers (19th), and 697 RBI (7th).
"While we are no sculptor, we believe that if we were and were looking for a model for a statue of a slugger, we would choose Sam Crawford for that role.” — Baseball Magazine, 1916
✍️ Bobby King II
◾Sources: baseballhall.org + www.baseball-reference.com + sabr.org