Sam Crawford - The Baseball Hall of Fame and The Glory of Their Times

The Baseball Hall of Fame and The Glory of Their Times

Crawford was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1957. At the time, he was living in a small cabin on the edge of the Mojave Desert near Pearblossom, California. Reporters showed up in Pearblossom with the news, shocking the locals, who were unaware that their neighbor had even played Major League Baseball. After his election, Crawford told the curator in Cooperstown that he wanted his plaque to read, “Wahoo Sam.” He noted: “That’s my hometown, and I’m proud of it.”

In retirement, Crawford became somewhat reclusive, staying away from official baseball functions. In March 1964, in Baywood Park, California, he was interviewed by Lawrence Ritter for his 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, a series of interviews with the players of the early 20th century. His tales of Tiger teammates such as Cobb, Cincinnati teammates such as deaf player William "Dummy" Hoy, and opponents such as Wagner helped to make the book one of the most admired ever written about baseball.

Crawford spent much of his later years working in his garden and reading. During the Ritter interviews, he quoted from the works of philosopher George Santayana and abolitionist Robert Ingersoll, and discussed the works of one of his favorite writers, Honoré de Balzac. As for how he hoped to be remembered, he 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.’”

Crawford suffered a stroke on May 26, 1968, and died two weeks later at Hollywood Community Hospital in Los Angeles at age 88. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood. In 1999, he ranked Number 84 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.