George Crowe

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American baseball player (1921–2011)

title: "George Crowe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1921-births", "2011-deaths", "21st-century-african-american-sportsmen", "21st-century-american-sportsmen", "african-americans-in-world-war-ii", "american-basketball-league-(1925–1955)-players", "american-men's-basketball-players", "baseball-players-from-indiana", "basketball-players-from-franklin,-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", "20th-century-american-sportsmen", "milwaukee-brewers-(minor-league)-players", "national-league-all-stars", "new-york-black-yankees-players", "pawtucket-slaters-players", "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-sportsmen"] description: "American baseball player (1921–2011)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crowe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American baseball player (1921–2011) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox baseball biography"]

Field	Value
name	George Crowe
image	George Crowe Cincinnati Reds.jpg
position	First baseman
birth_date
birth_place	Whiteland, Indiana, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Rancho Cordova, California, U.S.
bats	Left
throws	Left
debutleague	NgL
debutyear	1947
debutteam	New York Black Yankees
debut2league	MLB
debut2date	April 16
debut2year	1952
debut2team	Boston Braves
finalleague	MLB
finaldate	April 30
finalyear	1961
finalteam	St. Louis Cardinals
statleague	MLB
stat1label	Batting average
stat1value	.275
stat2label	Home runs
stat2value	86
stat3label	Runs batted in
stat3value	332
module	{{Infobox basketball biography
height_ft	6
height_in	2
weight_lbs	206
high_school	Franklin Senior (Franklin, Indiana)
college	Indianapolis (1940–1943)
career_start	1948
career_end	1953
career_position	Forward / center
years1	1948–1949
team1	Dayton Rens
years2	1949–1950;
1952–1953
team2	New York Harlem Yankees / Glens Falls-Saratoga
::

New York Black Yankees (–)
New York Cubans (–) ;Major League Baseball
Boston / Milwaukee Braves (–, )
Cincinnati Redlegs (–)
St. Louis Cardinals (–) |highlights=
NgL All-Star (1948)
Caribbean Series title (1955)
All-Star (1958) |module={{Infobox basketball biography|embed=y | image = | image_size = | caption = | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 2 | weight_lbs = 206 | high_school = Franklin Senior (Franklin, Indiana) | college = Indianapolis (1940–1943) | career_start = 1948 | career_end = 1953 | career_position = Forward / center | career_number = | years1 = 1948–1949 | team1 = Dayton Rens | years2 = 1949–1950; 1952–1953 | team2 = New York Harlem Yankees / Glens Falls-Saratoga | highlights = George Daniel Crowe (March 22, 1921 – January 18, 2011) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 702 games in the major leagues as a first baseman and pinch hitter between and . Before joining minor league baseball in 1949, Crowe played with the Negro National League's (Rochester) New York Black Yankees in 1947 and 1948, and he also played professional basketball.

Born in Whiteland, Indiana, Crowe graduated from nearby Franklin High School in 1939. He led the Franklin Grizzly Cubs to a notable state runner-up finish in 1939 in the IHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament. He attended college at Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis), where he was a member of the Class of 1943. He was the first Indiana "Mr. Basketball" and served in the United States Army during World War II.

Baseball career

MLB first baseman

Crowe batted and threw left-handed, stood 6 ft tall and weighed 210 lb. In Major League Baseball, he played for the Boston / Milwaukee Braves (1952–1953; 1955), Cincinnati Redlegs (1956–1958) and St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1961), all of the National League. He hit 31 home runs for Cincinnati in 1957, filling in most of the season for the injured Ted Kluszewski.

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 4–3 at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The previous season, Cincinnati fans had been involved in a ballot stuffing 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. Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Frank Robinson, Gus Bell and Wally Post were voted into the lineup, but Crowe was beaten out in the tally by future Cardinal teammate Stan Musial.

Minor and winter league baseball

Crowe was 28 years old when he moved from the Negro leagues to "Organized Baseball", as it slowly began the process of racial integration 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 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 in runs batted in, 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, Roberto Clemente, Buster Clarkson and Bob Thurman, Crowe formed part of the Escuadron Del Panico (the "Panic Squadron") that led the Crabbers to the league and Caribbean World Series championships.

Left-handed second baseman

Crowe played two-thirds of an inning 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—Crowe threw left-handed and playing any infield position other than first base is rare for a southpaw—he completed a double play against the batter, pitcher John Briggs of the Chicago Cubs. Although the Cubs won the contest, 4–3, Chicago skipper Bob Scheffing 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, 81 home runs and 299 RBI. He recorded a .990 fielding percentage as a first baseman. Crowe set a record (later broken by Jerry Lynch 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 Big Five (aka "Rens"). In 1947 Crowe played basketball for the integrated Los Angeles Red Devils, a team that also included future Brooklyn Dodgers' star Jackie Robinson. Following the disbanding of the Red Devils, Crowe would return to the Renaissance for the 1947–48 season, competing in the final World Professional Basketball Tournament ever held in 1948, with Crowe being named a member of the tournament's final All-Tournament Second Team for his work with the Rens up until their final match in the championship round against the National Basketball League's Minneapolis Lakers, who are now the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers.

Crowe played professional basketball in the National Basketball League (NBL) and the American Basketball League (ABL). He first played for the Dayton Rens of the NBL during the 1948–49 season and averaged 10.9 points per game. Crowe moved to the New York Harlem Yankees 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, who was the head basketball coach of the Crispus Attucks High School teams that won two consecutive Indiana state titles in 1954–55 and 1955–56, led by Oscar Robertson.

Notes

References

(December 16, 2020). "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/crowege01.shtml Baseball Reference]
(January 21, 2011). "Standout athlete persevered while facing prejudice". Daily Journal.
(1939). "The Indiana High School Athletic Association 36th Annual Handbook". The Board of Control.
(January 21, 2011). "Crowe: A determined man who didn't like talking about himself". Daily Journal.
"George Crowe – Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame".
[http://baseballinwartime.com/those_who_served/those_who_served_atoz.htm ''Baseball in Wartime'']
[https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1958/B06140CHN1958.htm "Chicago Cubs 4, Cincinnati Redlegs 3", June 14, 1958], [[Retrosheet]]
(6 September 2009). "Left-handed throwing second basemen, shortstops and third basemen".
(January 26, 2011). "Crowe's life spanned racial change". Daily Journal.
"George Crowe basketball statistics".

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