George Crowe

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For other people named George Crowe, see George Crowe (disambiguation).
George Crowe
Runs batted in
299
Teams
Negro leagues
Major League Baseball
Career highlights and awards
Basketball career
Personal information
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight206 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school
Forward / center
Career history
1948–1949Dayton Rens
1949–1950;
1952–1953		New York Harlem Yankees / Glens Falls-Saratoga

George Daniel Crowe (March 22, 1921

Negro National League's (Rochester) New York Black Yankees in 1947 and 1948, and he also played professional basketball
.

Born in

Indiana "Mr. Basketball"[4] and served in the United States Army during World War II.[5]

Baseball career

MLB first baseman

Crowe batted and threw left-handed, stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg). In

Cincinnati Redlegs (1956–1958) and St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1961), all of the National League. He hit 31 home runs for Cincinnati in 1957, filling in most of the season for the injured Ted Kluszewski
.

He was selected to the

ballot stuffing campaign to put all of the team's regulars in the Senior Circuit's starting lineup for the 1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Frank Robinson, Gus Bell and Wally Post were voted into the lineup, but Crowe was beaten out in the tally by future Cardinal teammate Stan Musial
.

Minor and winter league baseball

Crowe was 28 years old when he moved from the

Organized Baseball", as it slowly began the process of racial integration
in the late 1940s.

He was a prodigious minor league batsman, never

runs batted in
, with 119 (1951) and 128 (1954).

Crowe also played winter ball with the

Caribbean World Series
championships.

Left-handed second baseman

Crowe played two-thirds of an

mitt—Crowe threw left-handed and playing any infield position other than first base is rare for a southpaw—he completed a double play against the batter, pitcher John Briggs of the Chicago Cubs. Although the Cubs won the contest, 4–3, Chicago skipper Bob Scheffing played the game under protest because Crowe had used a non-standard infielder's glove.[6] Scheffing's protest led to a rule change mandating that first basemen moving to a different defensive position must exchange their mitt for a regulation fielder's glove.[7]

MLB totals and milestones

In 702 games over nine MLB seasons, Crowe posted a .270 batting average (467-for-1,727) with 215

home runs and 299 RBI. He recorded a .990 fielding percentage as a first baseman. Crowe set a record (later broken by Jerry Lynch and subsequently by Cliff Johnson
) for most pinch-hit home runs in major league baseball history with 14.

Basketball career

Crowe played basketball for the barnstorming New York Renaissance Big Five (aka "Rens").[8] In 1947 Crowe played basketball for the integrated Los Angeles Red Devils, a team that also included future Brooklyn Dodgers' star Jackie Robinson.

Crowe played professional basketball in the

New York Harlem Yankees of the ABL during the 1949–50 season and averaged 13.6 points per game.[9] He returned to the Yankees as they were renamed to the Glens Falls-Saratoga for the 1952–53 season and he averaged 12.3 points per game.[9] Crowe briefly served as the team's head coach during the season and recorded three losses.[9]

Family

He was the younger brother of Ray Crowe, who was the head basketball coach of the Crispus Attucks High School teams that won two consecutive Indiana state titles in 1954–55 and 1955–56, led by Oscar Robertson.

References

  1. ^ Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Standout athlete persevered while facing prejudice". Daily Journal. January 21, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Crowe: A determined man who didn't like talking about himself". Daily Journal. January 21, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "George Crowe – Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame".
  5. ^ Baseball in Wartime
  6. ^ "Chicago Cubs 4, Cincinnati Redlegs 3", June 14, 1958, Retrosheet
  7. ^ Preston, JG (6 September 2009). "Left-handed throwing second basemen, shortstops and third basemen". prestonjg.wordpress.com. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Crowe's life spanned racial change". Daily Journal. January 26, 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d "George Crowe basketball statistics". StatsCrew. Retrieved November 20, 2021.

External links

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