Background and career
Carl Demonte Crawford (born August 5, 1981), nicknamed "the Perfect Storm", is an American former professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. He batted and threw left-handed. Crawford is best known for his nine years with the Rays, during which he was considered one of the best baserunners in baseball. He led the American League in stolen bases and triples four times each while with Tampa Bay. After retiring from baseball in 2016, he founded the record label 1501 Certified Entertainment in 2016.
Crawford is a native of the Fifth Ward area of Houston. He participated in the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program, and attended Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, Texas, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. As a child, he was on the same little league team as Michael Bourn, who also played in MLB. In high school baseball, he began working with former #1 pick Willie Ansley after his sophomore year. He batted .638 as a senior. In the summer of his junior year in high school coach Ansley advised him to get on a team that played in the same tournaments that Josh Beckett played in so he could be seen by the pro scouts and Crawford joined the Pasadena Stars select baseball team. It was there that he gained his first real exposure to Major League Baseball scouts. So intent on capitalizing on this exposure, he was advised by coach Ansley to skip basketball his senior year to concentrate on baseball so that his knees would be fresh from the beginning of the season. Crawford was offered scholarships to play basketball as a point guard at UCLA. He also had an option to play college football as an option quarterback at Nebraska, USC, Oklahoma, Florida, and Tulsa. He had originally signed a letter of intent to play football for Nebraska, but he turned down both offers in favor of a baseball career.
Crawford was drafted by the Devil Rays in the second round (52nd overall) of the 1999 Major League Baseball draft.
In 2002, the Tampa Bay chapter of the BBWAA named Crawford the Devil Rays' Most Outstanding Rookie, and he earned International League Rookie of the Year playing for the AAA Durham Bulls.
Crawford made his Major League debut at age 20 on July 20, 2002, against the Toronto Blue Jays. His first hit was in that game, a two RBI single off Steve Parris. He hit his first home run on August 10 off Shawn Sedlacek of the Kansas City Royals. He played in 63 games for the Devil Rays in 2002, batting .259 with 9 stolen bases. In 2003, Crawford had a breakout season, batting .281 with 54 RBI and leading the league with 55 steals. Along with Juan Pierre, Crawford was co-winner of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum James "Cool Papa" Bell Legacy Award for 2003. In 2004, Crawford stole 59 bases, again leading the league and posting the second-highest total in the majors that season. He batted .296 with 11 home runs and 55 RBIs. Crawford also hit a league-leading 19 triples. He was selected for the All Star Game, played in his hometown of Houston, and was named Devil Rays team MVP in 2004 by the BBWAA. Crawford batted .301 in 2005, becoming just the third .300 hitter in Devil Rays history, joining Aubrey Huff (.311 in 2003) and Fred McGriff (.310 in 1999). Crawford also posted career highs in hits (194), home runs (15), and RBI (81). He again led the league with 15 triples and placed third in steals (46).
On July 5, 2006, against the Boston Red Sox, Crawford became only the eighth player in history to get 200 stolen bases before his 25th birthday. Crawford finished the season with career highs in batting average (.305) and home runs (18), joining Hall-of-Famer Rogers Hornsby as the only players in Major League history to increase their batting average and home run totals every year for five straight years. He won a Fielding Bible Award for his defensive excellence in left field during the season.
