George Craig

George McCarty Craig
(Lefty)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 164 lb.

• Debut July 20, 1907
• Final Game September 17, 1907
• Born November 15, 1883 in Philadelphia, PA USA
• Died April 23, 1911 in Indianapolis, IN USA

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Biographical Information

“Craig is a recent adjunct to Connie’s pitching department, and a man with a local reputation. After today’s exhibition, he will probably be considered as junk. He pitched badly…” - Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 1907

George Craig pitched twice in the major leagues, for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1907. He was listed at the time as having been born in 1887, which would have made him one of the youngest players in the American League, but he was actually four years older.

Little is known about his youth. As a 16-year-old, he was no longer in school but still living at home with his mother and working as a laborer in a stone foundry. He was also playing sandlot baseball and can be traced to teams in Camden, NJ and Clayton, NJ in 1906. The following year, he was a star in the Philadelphia city league and, in July, signed a contract with the A's. He was immediately put on the active roster and debuted in relief of Jimmy Dygert against the Detroit Tigers on July 20th. He finished the 2nd inning without giving up any runs and was immediately replaced by Bill Bartley. After that appearance, he was sent down to the minors for further polishing. He was apparently first assigned to the South Atlantic League, but statistics are unavailable. He did pitch for the Utica Pent-Ups of the New York State League later that year, then was brought back to Philadelphia. He made another relief appearance on September 17th, with an outing so poor against the New York Highlanders that manager Connie Mack took him out of the game and replaced him with outfielder Bris Lord. That was his final big league appearance, giving him a career ERA of 10.80.

Craig was on the A's reserve list for the 1908 season but was quickly released. He again pitched for Utica that year, but also for semipro teams around Philadelphia after being released at his own request. In 1909, he continued to pitch for a variety of teams, including Reading in the outlaw Atlantic League and the Reading Dutchmen of the Tri-State League, as well as a number of semipro teams. He was signed by the Boston Red Sox at the end of the season but failed to make the team's roster in 1910. Instead, he joined the Trenton Tigers of the Tri-State League, where he had his best season, going 16-12 in 32 games. He was soon sold to the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association. At first, he refused to report, because he wanted to stay close to home where he had business interests, but he finally reported at the end of August, likely after his new team gave him some sort of financial compensation. The Indians were not really a good team, and while Craig pitched well during the final month, he ended with a 2-4 record in 7 games.

He returned to Indianapolis in 1911, but after making only one start, he died a tragic death. Craig was shot and died in a struggle with a burglar in his hotel room at the Mount Jackson Sanitarium where a number of Indians players resided. He was able to speak the police before he died, explaining that he was woken up at 1:00 am by the presence of an intruder in the room he shared with fellow player Robby Robertson. The man was going through Craig's trouser pockets. The pitcher got up, the burglar fled and Craig pursued him down a corridor, where he caught him, but the burglar pulled out a handgun and shot him in the stomach. He woke up Robertson who called for medical assistance. Craig was able to give a description of his assailant before falling unconscious, but it did not prove useful in identifying him and the crime was never solved. Bleeding profusely, he was rushed to surgery in a local hospital, but the bullet had done irreparable damage to his internal organs. He died 40 hours later, at 7:15 pm on April 23, with teammates and family members, who had been called from Philadelphia, by his side. His body was brought back to Philadelphia for burial.

The police had little evidence to work with to solve the high-profile crime. They rounded up a number of local undesirables for questioning, but nothing came of it. It was likely that the culprit was a novice and unknown to the police. The case was thus left unresolved, but not for lack of effort.

Related Sites

• George Craig at the SABR Bio Project