George Daniel Crowe (March 22, 1921 – January 18, 2011) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who appeared in 702 games in the major leagues as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

between and . Before joining minor league baseball in 1949, Crowe played with the Negro National League's (Rochester)

New York Black Yankees The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and ...

in 1947 and 1948, and he also played professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. Born in

Whiteland, Indiana Whiteland is a town in Pleasant, Franklin and Clark townships, Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,599 at the 2020 census. Whiteland is located in north/central Johnson County approximately south of Indianapolis in J ...

, Crowe graduated from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in nearby

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and Indiana Central College (now the

University of Indianapolis The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University and ...

), where he was a member of the Class of 1943. He was the first Indiana "Mr. Basketball" and served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Baseball career

MLB first baseman

Crowe batted and threw left-handed, stood tall and weighed . In

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, he played for the Boston / Milwaukee Braves (1952–1953; 1955),

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

(1956–1958) and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

(1959–1961), all of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. He hit 31 home runs for Cincinnati in 1957, filling in most of the season for the injured

Ted Kluszewski Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), also known as "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player known for his bulging biceps and mammoth home runs in the 1950s decade. He played from 1947 through 1961 wit ...

. He was selected to the 1958 NL All-Star squad but did not play in the July 8 midsummer classic, won by the rival

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

4–3 at

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

's Memorial Stadium. The previous season, Cincinnati fans had been involved in a

ballot stuffing Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

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 The 1957 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 24th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game w ...

Ed Bailey Lonas Edgar Bailey, Jr. (April 15, 1931 – March 23, 2007) was an American professional baseball player and later served on the Knoxville, Tennessee city council. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from through . A six-time All-S ...

Johnny Temple John Ellis Temple (August 8, 1927 – January 9, 1994) was a Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Redlegs/Reds (1952–59; 1964); Cleveland Indians (1960–61), Baltimore Orioles (1962) and Houston Colt .45s (1962–63). Temp ...

Roy McMillan Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise t ...

Don Hoak Donald Albert Hoak (February 5, 1928 – October 9, 1969), nicknamed "Tiger", was an American professional baseball third baseman and coach. He played eleven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (–) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Cin ...

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of bot ...

Gus Bell David Russell "Gus" Bell Jr. (November 15, 1928 – May 7, 1995) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1950 through 1964, who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Milwaukee Braves. He batted ...

and

Wally Post Walter Charles Post (July 9, 1929 – January 6, 1982) was a right fielder in Major League Baseball.

were voted into the lineup, but Crowe was beaten out in the tally by future Cardinal teammate

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consis ...

Minor and winter league baseball

Crowe was 28 years old when he moved from the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

to "

Organized Baseball The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...

", as it slowly began the process of

racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...

in the late 1940s. He was a prodigious minor league batsman, never hitting below .334 until he was a 40-year-old player-coach in 1961, his final year as an active player. In 1950, Crowe played for the

Hartford Chiefs The Hartford Chiefs was the final name of the American minor league baseball franchise representing Hartford, Connecticut, that played in the Eastern League (then Class A) between 1938 and 1952. The Hartford team, which played at Bulkeley Stadiu ...

of the Class A Eastern League, where he won the batting title (.353) and led the circuit in hits and runs scored. He twice led the Triple-A

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, with 119 (1951) and 128 (1954). Crowe also played winter ball with the Santurce Crabbers of the Puerto Rico Professional Baseball League during the 1954–55 season, where, as a teammate of

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...

Buster Clarkson James Buster Clarkson (March 13, 1915 – January 18, 1989) was an American baseball player who played briefly in Major League Baseball and had a long career in the Negro leagues, the minor leagues, and the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball Leagu ...

and

Bob Thurman Robert Burns Thurman (May 14, 1917 – October 31, 1998) was a professional baseball pitcher, outfielder and pinch-hitter. He played in the Negro leagues, the Puerto Rican winter league (where he was a star), and for a few years at the end of ...

, Crowe formed part of the ''Escuadron Del Panico'' (the "Panic Squadron") that led the Crabbers to the league and

Caribbean World Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

championships.

Left-handed second baseman

Crowe played two-thirds of an

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

in one game as a second baseman on June 14, 1958, switching fielding positions with Johnny Temple. Still wearing his over-sized first baseman's

mitt Mitt may refer to: *Mitten, a garment covering the whole hand *Baseball mitt, a leather glove worn by baseball players on defense *Mitt (name), a surname and given name *William Mitten (1819–1906), English authority on bryophytes and chemist, wh ...

—Crowe threw left-handed and playing any infield position other than first base is rare for a southpaw—he completed a

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

against the batter,

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

John Briggs of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. Although the Cubs won the contest, 4–3, Chicago skipper

Bob Scheffing Robert Boden Scheffing (August 11, 1913 – October 26, 1985) was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive. Nicknamed "Grumpy", the native of Overland, Missouri, is most often identified with the Chicago ...

played the game under protest because Crowe had used a non-standard infielder's glove. 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.

MLB totals and milestones

In 702 games over nine MLB seasons, Crowe posted a .270 batting average (467-for-1,727) with 215 runs, 70 doubles, 12

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 81

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 299 RBI. He recorded a .990

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

as a first baseman. Crowe set a record (later broken by

Jerry Lynch Gerald Thomas Lynch (July 17, 1930 – March 31, 2012), nicknamed "The Hat", "Lynch The Pinch" and "The Allison Park Sweeper", was an American professional baseball outfielder who ranked among the most prolific pinch hitters in Major League Baseba ...

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 The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after t ...

Big Five (aka "Rens"). In 1947 Crowe played basketball for the integrated Los Angeles Red Devils, a team that also included future

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

' star

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

. Crowe played professional basketball in the National Basketball League (NBL) and the American Basketball League (ABL). He first played for the

Dayton Rens The Dayton Rens were a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948-49 season and were the only all-black team to play in a white league. This milestone came just one year after Jackie Robinson, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, brok ...

of the NBL during the 1948–49 season and averaged 10.9 points per game. Crowe moved to the

New York Harlem Yankees Glens Falls-Saratoga, also known as Schenectady Yankees, Saratoga Harlem Yankees and New York Harlem Yankees was an American professional basketball team based in several New York State locations. It was a member of the American Basketball League ...

of the ABL during the 1949–50 season and averaged 13.6 points per game. 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. Crowe briefly served as the team's head coach during the season and recorded three losses.

Family

He was the younger brother of

Ray Crowe Raymond Province Crowe (May 30, 1915 – December 20, 2003)Ray Crowe Obituary
Flanner and ...

, who was the head basketball coach of the

Crispus Attucks High School Crispus Attucks High School (also known as Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School) is a high school of the Indianapolis Public Schools in Indianapolis, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is named for Crispus Attucks (c.1723 – March 5, 1770), ...

teams that won two consecutive Indiana state titles in 1954–55 and 1955–56, led by

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

References

External links

an
Seamheads
*
Corbett, Warren, ''George Crowe''

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Biography Project
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowe, George 1921 births 2011 deaths 21st-century African-American people African Americans in World War II African-American basketball players American Basketball League (1925–1955) players American men's basketball players Baseball players from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana Boston Braves players Centers (basketball) Charleston Marlins players Cincinnati Redlegs players Dayton Rens players Forwards (basketball) Hartford Chiefs players Indianapolis Greyhounds baseball players Indianapolis Greyhounds men's basketball players Major League Baseball first basemen Milwaukee Braves players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players National League All-Stars New York Black Yankees players Pawtucket Slaters players People from Franklin, Indiana St. Louis Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals scouts San Juan Marlins players Toledo Sox players United States Army personnel of World War II African-American United States Army personnel 20th-century African-American sportspeople