James Otis Crandall

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James Otis Crandall baseball card

James Otis Crandall (October 8, 1887 – August 17, 1951) was a right handed pitcher and second baseman. He was the first player to be consistently used as a relief pitcher. Consequently, he was given the nickname Doc by Damon Runyon who said Crandall was "the physician of the pitching emergency". He played from 1908 to 1916, first for the New York Giants, and then briefly for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1913 and finally to the Federal League with St. Louis from 1914 to 1916. While Crandall frequently started, he led the league in number of relief appearances for five consecutive seasons while with the Giants. In the period from 1910 to 1912, he also led in relief victories going 45-16 overall in that time period. The Giants won three consecutive pennants from 1911 to 1913 with Crandall's help. Even with his bulky frame, Crandall was a quick fielder and thus played infield positions. With his .285 lifetime hitting average, he was often a pinch hitter and in 1910 he led with an amazing .342 batting average. When the Giants sent him to the Cardinals in 1913 public outcry in New York was so big that the Giants bought him back after only two games. However, he ended up in St. Louis again a year later in the Federal league where he played more at second base than as pitcher. In 1915 he led the Federal League winning six times as relief pitcher out of his total 21 wins in that league.