'Wahoo Sam' Becoming An Arizona League Legend
After seven years of the Arizona League, one player has truly become the league's superstar --
Wahoo Sam Crawford of the Flagstaff Lumberjacks.
The Wahoo, Nebraska native, an outfielder by trade, has found a home in the ponderosa pines of Flagstaff, elevation 7,000 feet. "The air is so thin up here, the ball just seems to fly off my bat," Crawford said. "This has been an incredible franchise to be a part of. It all came together this season when we won the Arizona League championship.
"I feel like I could play another 20 years."
That's not good news for opposing pitchers. Here are Crawford's season by season numbers. He's been an All-Star all seven years in the league and has won the Northern League Big Stick Award an amazing six times:
Code:
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Teams
1901 149 603 199 21 8 17 96 94 47 69 64 16 .330 .378 .476 .854 ,NL
1902 152 597 191 28 14 14 80 101 60 39 56 10 .320 .382 .484 .866 FLA,NL
1903 135 528 187 27 7 20 87 107 45 26 62 10 .354 .405 .545 .950 FLA,NL
1904 152 573 185 26 10 26 90 103 50 34 33 12 .323 .377 .539 .916 FLA,NL
1905 154 586 169 33 5 22 99 103 61 23 43 11 .288 .355 .474 .830 FLG,NL
1906 149 602 174 24 5 31 108 106 53 36 51 12 .289 .347 .500 .847 FLG,NL
1907 126 474 156 20 14 20 76 87 38 22 49 10 .329 .382 .557 .938 FLG,NL
Total 1017 3963 1261 179 63 150 636 701 354 249 358 81 .318 .374 .509 .883
Here are other highlights from Crawford's career:
Code:
Drafted in 2nd round, 21st overall pick, by Flagstaff in 1901...
Was selected to the 1901 Allstar game...
Won Big Stick Award in 1901, hitting .330 with 17 HR, 96 RBI...
Won Field General Award at Rightfield in 1901...
Had 5 hits with 0 RBI against Sedona on 4/1/1902...
Was selected to the 1902 Allstar game...
Was selected to the 1903 Allstar game...
Injured on 7/30/1903 with a Pulled Groin Muscle, out for 1-2 weeks...
Had 5 hits with 1 RBI against Lake Havasu on 9/27/1903...
Won Big Stick Award in 1903, hitting .354 with 20 HR, 87 RBI...
Won Field General Award at Rightfield in 1903...
Hit 3 homeruns against Cottonwood, driving in 6 runs on 5/2/1904...
Was selected to the 1904 Allstar game...
Won Big Stick Award in 1904, hitting .323 with 26 HR, 90 RBI...
Was selected to the 1905 Allstar game...
Won Big Stick Award in 1905, hitting .288 with 22 HR, 99 RBI...
Was selected to the 1906 Allstar game...
Sets a new season NL-Record for RBI with 104 on 9/9/1906...
Won Big Stick Award in 1906, hitting .289 with 31 HR, 108 RBI...
Was selected to the 1907 Allstar game...
Won Division Championship with Flagstaff in 1907...
Won Big Stick Award in 1907, hitting .329 with 20 HR, 76 RBI...
Here are some career leaderboards where Crawford is featured prominently:
Batting Leaders (Minimum 2000 ABs)
1 S. Crawford* .318
2 J. Burkett* .307
3 E. Delahanty* .305
4 M. Donlin* .304
5 G. Beaumont* .302
6 J. Mcgraw* .300
7 H. Wagner* .300
8 G. Van haltren* .298
9 W. Keeler* .298
10 J. Kelley* .292
Career Hits
1 S. Crawford* 1261
2 G. Beaumont* 1210
3 M. Donlin* 1182
4 E. Heidrick* 1162
5 N. Lajoie* 1147
6 B. Keister* 1145
7 E. Flick* 1143
8 D. Green* 1125
9 J. Kelley* 1119
9 J. Sheckard* 1119
Career Home Runs
1 S. Crawford* 150
2 B. Freeman* 117
3 F. Foutz* 93
4 S. Seybold* 84
5 P. Foster* 65
6 B. Conn* 64
6 M. Donlin* 64
8 E. Flick* 63
9 J. Sheckard* 62
10 T. Mccreery* 58
Career RBIs
1 S. Crawford* 636
2 B. Freeman* 621
3 J. Sheckard* 556
4 D. Green* 547
5 M. Donlin* 530
5 J. Williams* 530
7 N. Lajoie* 501
7 F. Chance* 501
9 G. Demontreville* 499
10 T. Hartsel* 496
Career Doubles
1 N. Lajoie* 282
2 F. Foutz* 227
3 B. Conn* 223
4 H. Wagner* 214
5 J. Anderson* 209
6 M. Donlin* 196
6 E. Flick* 196
8 B. Wallace* 195
9 J. Williams* 191
10 F. Clarke* 184
11 S. Crawford* 179
12 H. Steinfeldt* 177
Career Runs
1 S. Crawford* 701
2 E. Flick* 648
3 F. Chance* 623
4 T. Hartsel* 598
5 J. Mcgraw* 589
6 M. Donlin* 581
7 E. Heidrick* 570
8 J. Kelley* 557
9 T. Leach* 548
10 B. Hart* 539
Career Stolen Bases
1 F. Chance* 421
2 T. Hartsel* 407
3 E. Flick* 401
4 E. Heidrick* 398
5 S. Crawford* 358
6 H. Wagner* 349
7 F. Jones* 345
8 C. Stahl* 338
9 F. Isbell* 329
10 H. Mcfarland* 327
Crawford is 14th in career walks...
Quotable:
"None of them can hit them quite as hard as Crawford. He stands up at the plate like a brick house; there's no moving him away from it. And he hits all the pitchers, without playing favorites. When he's hitting, they all look alike."
— Fielder Jones, 36, an outfielder who has played for both Phoenix and Tempe