Jack Crooks

Born: November 9, 1865
Died:
MLB Debut: September,26, 1889
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Jack Crooks was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1865, and his first two professional seasons were with Minneapolis and the St. Paul, both in the Northwestern League, in 1886 and 1887, respectively. With St. Paul in 1887 he played second base and hit .388 with 206 hits and 11 home runs. St. Paul placed a team in the Western Association for the 1888 season, but Crooks signed with the Whites in November of 1887.

Crooks played in the Whites first six spring games before a leg sprain sidelined him for the rest of spring training. He returned to start at third base on opening day and subsequently played in every Whites game. He was sold to Omaha in the Western Association on June 20, the day of the final game for the Whites. His departure was the death blow to the club, for it left the team with only eight remaining players. The team was unable to field a full club, forfeited its next two games, and then folded. Crooks finished the season playing for Omaha. According to the official league stats, as published in the St. Paul Globe, Crooks finished the season batting .259 with 115 hits in 116 games between the two clubs.

Crooks returned to Omaha for the 1889 season. On June 8, 1889, he became the first player in organized baseball to hit four home runs in a single game (a 19-15 victory over St. Paul). In part because of this game, he was purchased from Omaha by Columbus of the American Association towards the end of the 1889 season. He played two full seasons for Columbus in 1890 and 1891, and in 1892 he returned to St. Louis to play for the Browns. In his first season with the Browns, he was named team captain and also managed the club for two stints. Under his direction, the club went 27-33; the 27 wins were just under half of the team's total of 56 for the season. He spent two seasons in St. Louis (1892 and 1893), and then bounced around the majors for a few more seasons before finishing his major league career with the Browns again in 1898. He settled in St. Louis selling cigars, but continued to play for the local club in Alton.

In 1900, he had a brief stint with Buffalo in the American League (in its final season as a minor league before reorganizing as a major league for the 1901 season) as a fill-in at second base. In 1901, he joined former Browns teammate and friend Percy Werden on the newly organized St. Paul franchise in the Western League. In June both players were traded to Des Moines after their relationship soured. Crooks refused to play with Werden in Des Moines, and wound up signing with Minneapolis a few days later. Minneapolis made him team captain and installed him at first base; he lasted less than one week before he was released.

Crooks only hit .241 for his career, but he was skilled at fouling balls off and drawing walks, totaling 612 in eight seasons. In 1892 for St. Louis, he walked 136 time in 128 games. Only 10 players in baseball history have drawn more walks than games played in a season. (In total, this has been done 18 times, with three of those seasons being Cardinals - Crooks in 1892, Jack Clark in 1987 and Mark McGwire in 1998.) As a result of all his walks, his career on-base percentage was .386. He also stole 220 bases in his career.

While playing in St.Louis, Crooks took a job selling tobacco during the off-season. When he left baseball after the 1898 season, he stayed in St. Louis and continued to sell tobacco. Over the years, he gained weight (to more than 300 lbs), and by 1915 his health was poor enough that former teammates and friends organized a benefit game for him. He died of elephantiasis in February, 1918 after spending the last 2+ years in an insane asylum. His obituary in the Post-Dispatch acknowledged his time with the Whites, but then incorrectly stated that he played for the Browns in 1889 and 1890. He married an Alton, Illinois girl in October, 1892, per the Omaha Daily Bee, identified as Blanche (Dimmett) Crooks in an announcement of his death.



Major League record for Jack Crooks

Batting stats
Year   Team              Pos            Age    G   AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR  RBI   BB    K   SB   CS     AVG    OBP    SLG
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1889   Col-a             2B              23   12   43   13   14    2    3    0    7   10    4   10        0.326  0.463  0.512
1890   Col-a             2B-3B-OF        24  135  485   86  107    5    4    1   62   96        57        0.221  0.357  0.254
1891   Col-a             2B              25  138  519  110  127   19   13    0   46  103   47   50        0.245  0.379  0.331
1892   StL-N             2B-3B-OF        26  128  445   82   95    7    4    7   38  136   52   23        0.213  0.400  0.294
1893   StL-N             3B-SS-C         27  128  448   93  106   10    9    1   48  121   37   31        0.237  0.408  0.306
1895   Was-N             2B              29  118  412   81  117   19    8    6   58   70   39   36        0.284  0.398  0.413
1896   Was-N                             30   25   84   20   24    3    0    3   20   16    8    2        0.286  0.406  0.429
1896   Lou-N                             30   39  122   19   29    5    1    2   15   20    8    8        0.238  0.354  0.344
1898   StL-N             2B-SS-OF-3B     32   72  225   33   52    4    2    1   20   40   28    3        0.231  0.359  0.280
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Totals (8 yrs)                               795 2783  537  671   74   44   21  314  612  223  220    0   0.241  0.386  0.322
StL-N (3 yrs)                                328 1118  208  253   21   15    9  106  297  117   57    0   0.226  0.395  0.296


Record as manager
Year   Team              Pos              G    W    L    T    PCT     Finish    GB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1892   StL-N             M               62   27   33    2   0.450      11th    46
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Totals (1 yrs)                           62   27   33    2   0.450

Stats with the St. Louis Whites

Batting stats
Year Team Pos Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1888 STW 3B-2B-SS 22 39 147 28 39 8 3 1 26 7 21 0.265 0.383 0.381

Spring stats for the Whites

  Date       Opponent      Pos.   AB    R   BH   2B   3B   HR	SB   BB    K
3/25/1888    Browns         2b     4    0    0                   1         1
3/27/1888    Browns         2b     4    0    1                   0         1
3/29/1888    Browns         2b     3    1    0                   1    1
 4/1/1888    Prickly Ash    2b     4    2    1                   2         1
 4/7/1888    Browns         2b     4    1    1                   2
 4/8/1888    Browns         2b     4    0    0                   0
Totals (6 G)                      23    4    3    0    0    0    6    1    3
11 putouts, 21 assists and 5 errors