Sam Crawford
Samuel "Sam" Earl Crawford ( born April 18, 1880 in Wahoo, Nebraska, † June 15, 1968 in Hollywood, California ) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball. His nickname was Wahoo.
Life
Sam Crawford began his career in the National League on September 10, 1899 at the Cincinnati Red Stockings. In 1903 he moved to the American League for the Detroit Tigers. Overall, he played 19 seasons in the Major Leagues before 1917 his playing career ended. With 312 Triples he leads today to the Major Leagues, a record that will be hard to beat today by the different style of play. In 1901 he led the National League with 16 home runs, an incredible number for that time. In 1908, he led the AL with seven home runs and is the only player to have won a home run title in both major leagues. Overall, he hit 97 home runs in his career, 70 of them in the AL, which he led during his career end in this category.
Together with Ty Cobb, with whom he, however, had no good relationship, he made the parade offensive of the Tigers. However, Crawford was denied the success in the World Series. From 1907-1909, he participated in three World Series, but lost twice to the Chicago Cubs and even the Pittsburgh Pirates with Honus Wagner. With 2961 hits, he remained just below the threshold of 3000, it would have reached if his 87 hits were counted in the Western League, the American League in 1900, in its statistics.
In 1957 he was elected by the Veterans Committee in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1968 he came into the Hall of Fame of the Cincinnati Reds.