Great Nebraskans: ‘Wahoo Sam’ Crawford
From the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska...
Born April 18, 1880 in Wahoo - As Rufus is on his baseball kick, might as well dig up another Hall of Famer born in Nebraska. Sam Crawford, one of the best hitters from the Deadball Era, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957 and is still holds the mark for triples hit in a career. A player for the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, he and Ty Cobb created the most electric outfield in a time when ballparks didn’t have electricity.
Of course, much like everyone’s relationship with Ty Cobb (especially if you were black), Crawford’s partnership with the Georgia Peach was complicated – complicated because Ty Cobb was, by most accounts, an ass hole (or as Cobb apologists would tell you, aggressive). And sharing the same place with an ass hole for 11 years can make for some trying times. If you don’t believe Rufus, just ask your wife about it.
When Crawford’s talent for baseball was discovered at age 17, he had to make that pivotal decision many a man had to toil over at the turn of the century: try to make it as a baseball player or become a barber. Baseball it was. Clean-livin’ Crawford would bounce around the country and Canada for a few years before landing in Detroit in 1903 to start his 14-year run with the Tigers.
Spacious Tiger Stadium was the perfect place for a guy with “Wahoo Sam’s” speed. Crawford still holds the MLB record for inside-the-park home runs in a season ( 12) and a career (51). When he wasn’t touching them all, he made it to third base a record 309 times (although there’s debate to whether that number is actually 312).
But back to Cobb: Not that Cobb was selfish or anything, but he once accused Crawford, who hit behind him in the lineup, of intentionally fouling off pitches when Cobb was trying to steal bases. As Crawford said, Cobb must have “dreamed that up.” Damn straight. We don’t mess you up with any passive-aggressive water-drip torture nonsense in Nebraska. We punch you in the face and tell you to stop being an ass hole, if it’s really bothering us that much.
When asked how he hoped to be remembered, Crawford said, “When I kick off, they’ll say. ‘Well, good-old Sam, he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. Everything considered, he was pretty fair-and-square. We’ll miss him.’” Of course, the way he’s actually remembered when you ask people about him is “Who?”
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