Michael Christopher Crudale (born January 3, 1977) is a former professional baseball

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 ...

who played two seasons at the major league level with the

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 ha ...

and Milwaukee Brewers in 2002–03.

MLB career

Selected by the Cardinals in the 24th round of the 1999 amateur entry draft, Crudale played his first professional season with their Rookie League team, the

Johnson City Cardinals The Johnson City Cardinals were a Minor League Baseball team based in Johnson City, Tennessee. The team was affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1975 through 2020 and played in the Rookie-level Appalachian League. The team wo ...

in 1999. After moving up the Cardinals chain, Crudale made the big club out of spring training in 2002 and pitched well, with a 3–0 mark and a 1.88 ERA out of the bullpen (plus one start). Crudale spent most of the 2003 season at AAA

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, however, and was dealt in August to Milwaukee, who released him in spring training in 2004. Dogged by injuries, he pitched poorly for minor-league teams in the Pittsburgh Pirates and

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

minor league systems later that season, ending his affiliated baseball career. (Ironically, his major league ERA was an excellent 2.09, less than half of his minor-league mark of 4.38.)

Later career

After leaving Organized Baseball, Crudale pitched three seasons for the independent Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League from 2005 to 2007. Continuing his baseball career abroad, he played in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(De Angelis Godo Baseball) in 2007, then moved on to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

with the

CPBL The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 2 ...

dmedia T-REX The dmedia T-REX (米迪亞暴龍) was a professional baseball team belonging to the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). History The history of the team can be traced back to early 2001, when local Macoto Bank started to sponsor Taiwan ...

in 2008. He returned to Europe for his final season as a player with the Sanmarinese-

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

team T & A San Marino in 2009. In 2008, Mike briefly worked as an instructor at Turn 2 sports training facility in

Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville is a city located mainly in Madison County, and partially in St. Clair County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 25,579, an increase from 24,707 in 2000. Collinsville is approximately from St. Louis, Mi ...

; he now coaches the DBA Crushers (12-and-under) squad in

Danville, California The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their names instead of "city". The population was 43,582 at the 2020 census ...

In popular culture

The phrase "And Mike Crudale" has become something of an internet meme, starting as a

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

on the Baseball Think Factory website, often used to terminate a lengthy paragraph or mind-numbing list of trivia

References

"Turn 2 Instructors".
''Turn 2 Instructors Page'' 21 March 2008.
"Mike Crudale's transfer to San Marino".
''Baseball.it'' 2 February 2009.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crudale, Mike 1977 births Living people Altoona Curve players Baseball players from San Diego De Angelis Godo players American expatriate baseball players in San Marino Fresno Grizzlies players Indianapolis Indians players Johnson City Cardinals players Long Island Ducks players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Redbirds players Milwaukee Brewers players Nashville Sounds players New Haven Ravens players Peoria Chiefs players Potomac Cannons players Santa Clara Broncos baseball players Santa Clara University alumni St. Louis Cardinals players T & A San Marino players American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Dmedia T-REX players