Carl Crawford
Carl Demonte Crawford (born August 5, 1981), nicknamed "the Perfect Storm",[1][2] 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.
This article is about the American baseball player. For the Guyanese boxer, see Carl Crawford (boxer).Carl Crawford
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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.
Early life[edit]
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,[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[6] He also had an option to play college football as an option quarterback at Nebraska,[6] 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.[6]