Posted at 6:25 p.m., Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Baseball: Longtime NL umpire Shag Crawford dead
By Ben Walker
Associated Press Baseball Writer
Jerry Crawford said his father died at an assisted living facility in suburban Philadelphia.
"For someone who was going to be 91 in August, he was in pretty good health for a long time," Crawford said by telephone.
Jerry Crawford became a big league umpire in the mid-1970s, around the time his brother, Joey, became an NBA official.
"When we were young, my brothers and my sister would go watch my dad work," Jerry Crawford said. "I'm sure that had something to do with what we did."
Born Henry Charles Crawford, Shag called more than 3,000 games as a National League umpire from 1956-75. He worked the World Series three times, the NL championship series twice and handled three All-Star games.
In the 1969 World Series between Baltimore and the New York Mets, he ejected Orioles manager Earl Weaver in Game 4 during an argument about balls and strikes.
Crawford, one of the founders of the umpires' union, ended his active career in 1975 after getting into a dispute with baseball over the rotation of umpires in the World Series.
Crawford, who raised his family in the Philadelphia area, worked the first game at Veterans Stadium in 1971. He stood with son Jerry at home plate when the lineup cards were presented before the final game at the ballpark in 2003.
