Doc Cramer

From SoSH

Roger Maxwell Cramer (July 22, 1905 - September 9, 1990) was an agile, swift centerfielder who played in the Major Leagues for 20 season. Cramer a 5-time All-Star, spent four of those All-Star years with the Boston Red Sox (1936-1940).

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Awards 3 Achievements 4 Moment in the Sun 5 Trivia 6 External Links

Overall Career

Cramer began his career with the Philadelphia Athletics' powerful championship teams of 1929-1931, breaking in gradually. After hitting .336 in 92 games in 1932, his place in the everyday lineup was secure, and he scored 100 runs for the first time in 1933; but the team's fortunes declined simultaneously, leading to the star players on the financially struggling Athletics being sent to other teams. Cramer was able to stick around for a few more seasons and in 1934 set a team record among left-handed hitters with 202 hits, and topped it in 1935 with 214 (still the Athletics franchise record for a left-handed batter). After the 1935 season, Jimmie Foxx was traded to the Red Sox in December, and Cramer joined him a month later.

Cramer was a spray leadoff hitter who regularly stretched singles into doubles -- although he was a non-factor as a base stealer. He batted over .300 every year from 1937 to 1940 with Boston, scoring 100 runs in 1938 and 1939, and tied for the league lead in hits (200) in 1940. Cramer was traded to the Washington Senators on December 12 of that year, and was sent to the Detroit Tigers exactly one year later after hitting .273.

Two years after hitting over .300 for the last time with the 1943 Tigers, Cramer played 140 games in center field at age 40 (albeit during World War II, when many regular players were in military service), and finally enjoyed significant play in the Fall Classic. In the 1945 World Series Cramer led the team with a .379 batting average, scoring seven runs and batting in four, to help his team to win the Series 4-3 against the Chicago Cubs; he had two runs and an RBI in Game 5, and again in Game 7. In his final seasons he was often used as a pinch-hitter, and he led the league with nine pinch hits in 1947 before ending his career with four games in 1948.

Awards

• 5-Time American League All-Star (1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940)

Achievements

• 7-Time American League Leader in At-Bats (1933-35, 1938, 1940-1942)
• 5-Time American League Leader in Singles ((1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1943)
• 1940 American League Leader in Hits

Moment in the Sun

• June 20, 1932: Cramer tied a ML record by going 6-for-6 in a nine-inning game, and is the only American Leaguer to do it twice (6/20/32 and 7/13/35).

• August 11, 1942: At Cleveland, in the first game of a twi-nighter, Indian P Al Milnar has a no-hitter until Cramer singles with two out in the 9th.

Trivia

• During a minor league season in the Blue Ridge League in 1929, Cramer was locked in a close race with soon to be Red Sox Joe Vosmik for the league batting title. On the final day of the season, Cramer pitched against Vosmik's team and walked his rival four times. Cramer's .404 won the title.
• Cramer gained medical knowledge before playing pro ball by observing a local doctor, and was therefore dubbed "Doc."
• Philadelphia sportswriter Jimmy Isaminger began calling him "Flit", after the insecticide, because the outfielder was death to fly balls.
• June 23, 1940: In game 1 of a doubleheader, Ted Williams and Cramer collide chasing a fly ball. Williams is knocked unconscious and the ball goes for an inside-the-park home run.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis