Umpire Shag Crawford Passes Away at 90
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Last Friday, before the game between the Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals, a moment of silence was observed in memory of Henry Charles “Shag” Crawford, a longtime major league umpire, Philadelphia area resident and head of a prominent professional sports officiating family who passed away last Wednesday. Crawford was 90 years old and passed away at the Glen Mills assisted-living facility where he had been living.
AP Baseball writer Ben Walker outlines Crawford’s career in baseball from it’s earliest days;
As a sandlot catcher, Henry Crawford was too busy playing ball to worry about the clothes he wore off the field. As a result, his pals gave him a nickname — “Shaggy.”
Later, it got shortened and the new version stuck. From the 1950s through the 1970s, everyone in baseball knew Shag Crawford.
“Let’s just say some of the things he put on weren’t always of the finest quality. He had things with holes in them, it didn’t bother him,” son Jerry Crawford said Thursday.
“He liked when people called him Shag. I think he’d want that on his tombstone as his middle name,” he said. “He liked that handle.”
In 1976, Jerry Crawford became a major league umpire. The next year, his brother, Joey, started working as an NBA official.
“Shag was very proud of what he did,” New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, who played in the NL during most of Crawford’s career, said Thursday. “Evidently his kids were pretty proud of what he did because they took after him.”
“When we were young, my brothers and my sister would go watch my dad work. I’m sure that had something to do with what we did,” Jerry Crawford said.
Joey Crawford admired his dad’s work, too.
“He loved his craft. He gave his life to it,” he said.
Growing up, Shag Crawford played baseball, football and boxed a little. He eventually made it into the minor leagues as a catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies’ system.
Crawford apparently was better at calling pitches than hitting them. Known for getting in a low crouch and resting his hands on the back of the catcher in front of him, he worked more than 3,100 games from 1956-75.
Inquirer Staff Writer Frank Fitzpatrick relates how Crawford went from sandlot catcher to high-profile major league umpire;
During a Roman Catholic High School game in the early 1950s, Roman coach Joe “Goldie” Graham was impressed by the young man working behind home plate.
“So Goldie Graham called John Stevens, who was an official of the old Canadian-American League, and told him about my father,” Joey Crawford said. “And John Stevens, sight unseen, called my dad and offered him a two-month job.
“I asked him once how he told my mother that he would be leaving for two months. He told me, ‘I didn’t say nothing. I just went.’ That was my father.”
Mr. Crawford moved up to the Eastern League and finally the American Association before making his big-league debut in 1956.
Crawford umpired in the World Series in 1961, 1963 and 1969 seasons as well as in two NLCS; in 1971, 1974, and in All-Star Games in 1959 (first game), 1961 (first game) and in 1968. He was stationed at third base on June 4, 1964 during Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax’s third no-hitter.
NY Times reporter Richard Goldstein outlines Shag Crawford’s unique style and most eventful moments umpiring in the major leagues;
When umpiring at home plate, Crawford crouched especially close to view pitches, his hand resting on the catcher’s back to keep his balance. On Aug. 22, 1965, he was in the midst of the action, trying to break up one of baseball’s most frightening melees. Still wearing his mask, Crawford is shown in photographs trying to separate the San Francisco Giants’ Juan Marichal and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro after Marichal hit Roseboro over the head with his bat. The battle erupted after Roseboro’s return throw to pitcher Sandy Koufax whizzed past Marichal’s ear.
Crawford’s most eventful day after that came at Shea Stadium, in Game 4 of the 1969 World Series between the Mets and the Baltimore Orioles.
He ejected Earl Weaver, the Orioles’ manager, in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes, the first time a manager had been thrown out of a World Series game since Chicago Cubs Manager Charlie Grimm was banished in 1935.
So Weaver was not around to protest a tumultuous 10th-inning play. With the score tied, 1-1, two runners on base and nobody out, the Mets’ J. C. Martin bunted. The throw to first by Orioles pitcher Pete Richert struck Martin on the left wrist and caromed into right field, allowing Rod Gaspar to score from second base with the winning run.
A photograph later showed that Martin was running in fair territory instead of staying inside the three-foot-wide runner’s lane in foul territory as he approached first base. But neither Crawford, umpiring at home plate, nor Lou DiMuro, the umpire at first base, called Martin out for interfering with the throw, and the Orioles, being run in Weaver’s absence by a coach, Billy Hunter, did not argue for interference. If Martin had been called out for interference, Gaspar would not have scored on the play.
Crawford said afterward that Martin was either touching or straddling the foul line, and therefore running legally, even though his body was essentially in fair territory. The Mets, baseball’s doormats since their inception in 1962, went on to win the World Series in five games.
Crawford, who was born and reared in Philadelphia, umpired in the first game played at the Philadelphia Phillies’ Veterans Stadium, in 1971. When the Phillies played their last game there, in September 2003, he stood with his son Jerry, the home-plate umpire, at farewell ceremonies.
Inquirer Staff Writer Frank Fitzpatrick relates another of Crawford’s more memorable arguments, one which occurred on May 18, 1967;
Crawford called Jim Wynn’s down-the-line shot a home run. Giants manager Herman Franks insisted it was foul, and the two men went toe-to-toe for several minutes.
Meanwhile, someone in the Giants’ dugout called Mr. Crawford a “meathead,” and the umpire tossed out outfielder Ollie Brown. Later, pitcher Gaylord Perry admitted he was the culprit.
Crawford, who was one of the founders of the umpires’ union, never earned more than $35,000 in a season while umpiring.
Baseball Almanac relates how Crawford’s umpiring career ended;
Umpires were originally selected to appear in World Series games based on their quality of work. In 1975 Shag Crawford refused his assignment to the World Series stating that a secret rotation based system had been installed instead of the earlier quality system. In 1987 a rotation system was actually used, but in 1990 it reverted back to the merit system — except preference was given to those umpires who had not worked a World Series.
Baseball Almanac carries this classic Crawford quote which epitimizes his career which spanned 20 seasons;
“The best thing about umpiring is seeing the best in baseball every day. The cardinal rule of umpiring is to follow the ball wherever it goes. Well, if you watch the ball, you can’t help seeing somebody make a great catch… That’s what makes umpiring so much fun.”
New York Times reporter Goldstein notes;
In addition to his sons Jerry and Joey, Crawford is survived by his son Henry Jr.; a daughter, Patti Linder; a sister, Marilyn Carbone; 12 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
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