After attending Riverside Community College, he began his professional career in the Minnesota Twins organization in 1967. After his second year in pro ball—when Cram won 16 games in the Class A Carolina League—he was selected by the Royals with the 54th pick in the 1968 American League expansion draft. The 1969 Royals sent Cram to the minor leagues for most of the season (where he again won 16 games), and summoned him to Kansas City for his first MLB action in September. He appeared in five games, two as a starting pitcher, and although he lost his only decision to the Seattle Pilots, the league's other expansion team, on September 15, he allowed only four hits and one earned run in seven innings pitched. Overall, he posted a 3.24 ERA in 16.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}2⁄3 innings pitched. Cram then spent all of the next three years at Triple-A Omaha.
He was traded to the Mets in February 1973, and remained with Triple-A Tidewater for all of that campaign and most of 1974. Cram finally returned to the major leagues in August 1974 when he was added to the Mets' bullpen corps. Again, he lost his only decision (on August 28 to the Houston Astros), but on September 11, he performed admirably in what would become the second-longest game in MLB history, a 25-inning contest against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium. Cram threw eight shutout innings (the 17th through the 24th), allowing seven hits, and left for a pinch hitter with the game still tied, three-all. The Cardinals broke through to win in the 25th frame.
Cram compiled a 1.61 ERA in ten appearances and 221⁄3 innings pitched for the 1974 Mets, and then made the 1975 club's early-season roster, but he was ineffective in two of his four appearances and was returned to Tidewater for the rest of the year. In January 1976, he was dealt back to Kansas City. Back with Omaha, he earned American Association All-Star honors in 1976, then capped his MLB career with four late-season mound stints with the American League Royals. All told, he dropped all of his three MLB decisions, but posted a solid 2.98 ERA in 481⁄3 innings of work, allowing 52 hits and 13 bases on balls, with 22 strikeouts.

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