1. Samuel Earl Crawford was born in 1880 in Wahoo, Nebraska. Hence the nickname “Wahoo Sam.”
2. He was a star football player in high school, leading his team to state titles in both 1896 and 1897.
3. After a stint with a barnstorming minor league team he joined the Cincinnati Reds in 1899.
4. In 1901 he led the Major Leagues with 16 home runs. Twelve of them were of the inside-the-park variety. That’s still the record.
5. In 1903 he jumped to Detroit of the new American League (then in its third season). He led the AL in triples.
6. He played in three consecutive World Series’, 1907-1909. He hit .243 with 17 hits, one home run, and eight RBIs. Detroit lost all three Series’.
7. He led the AL in RBIs in 1910, 1914, and 1915; in total bases in 1913; in runs in 1907; in doubles in 1909; in home runs in 1908; and in triples six times.
8. He is the all time leader in triples with 309, 14 better than his teammate Ty Cobb.
9. His last season in the majors was 1917. Afterwards he played four years with Los Angeles in the Pacific Coast League. The team won two pennants.
10. He was head coach for the University of Southern California between 1924 and 1929, placing second in his conference twice.
11. After umpiring in the PCL from 1935 through 1938 he retired, became something of a recluse, and lived in a cabin near the Mojave Desert.
12. In 1957 he was elected to the Hall of Fame and in 1964 was interviewed for the book “The Glory of Their Times” (still the best book about Deadball Baseball).
13. He died in California in 1968.
Tags: Sam Crawford, Ty Cobb
Verdun2's Blog 
September 16, 2012 at 2:57 pm
It’s amazing that it took an election by the Veteran’s Committee to induct him into The Hall, twenty years after The Hall opened it’s doors. He obviously should have made it in a lot sooner.
Crawford is one of six players born in Nebraska to make it into the HOF. Not a bad showing for a state with such a relatively small population.
Good stuff,
Bill
September 25, 2012 at 8:09 am
I seem to also remember, from reading the brilliant book about Ty Cobb by Al Stump (the SECOND one, that told the TRUTH about Cobb, not the hack job written in the 50s!!!!), that Crawford was the only member of the Detroit Tigers who was at ALL tolerant of Cobb. Am I remembering this correctly?
September 25, 2012 at 10:06 am
Not sure about the entire team, but I’ve always thought that manager Hughie Jennings made the HoF not because of great managerial skills, but because he was able to keep Cobb’s teammates from killing him. 🙂
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