Del Crandall ✝

Crandall was signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves in 1948. He was only 19 when he first played in a major league game with the 1949 Boston Braves. He appeared in 146 games for Boston in 1949-1950 before entering military service during the Korean War. When his two-year hitch was over in March 1953, the Braves departed Boston for Milwaukee, where – benefitting from a powerful offense featuring Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock – they soon became both successful on the field and phenomenally popular off it. Crandall seized the regular catcher\'s job from veteran Walker Cooper in 1953 and held it for eight years, handling star Braves pitchers such as left-hander Warren Spahn and right-handers Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl. As a testament to Crandall\'s pitch calling skills, between 1953 and 1959, the Braves\' pitching staff finished either first or second in the National League in team earned run average every year except 1955. Burdette credited Crandall for some of his success saying, "I never- well hardly ever- have to shake him off. He knows the job like no one else, and you can have faith in his judgment". On September 11, 1955, with the Braves trailing the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 with two outs and a 3-2 count in the ninth inning, Crandall hit a dramatic grand slam home run to win the game. The Braves won National League pennants in 1957 and 1958, also finishing in second place five times between 1953 and 1960, and captured the 1957 World Series championship – the franchise\'s first title since 1914. Although he only batted .211 in the 1957 Series against the New York Yankees, Crandall had a solo home run for the Braves\' last tally in a 5-0 win in the deciding Game 7.\n', ' Though rarely among the league leaders in offensive categories, he finished 10th in the 1958 Most Valuable Player Award voting after hitting .272, tying his best mark to that point, with career highs in doubles and walks; he also led the league in putouts, assists and fielding average, and won his first Gold Glove. In the 1958 World Series, again against the Yankees, he hit .240; he slugged another Game 7 solo homer, tying the score 2-2 in the 6th inning, though the Yankees went on to score four more runs to win the game and the Series.\n', ' Crandall averaged 125 games caught during the peak of his career, and he paid the price, missing most of the 1961 season due to shoulder trouble, which gave Joe Torre his opportunity to break in. While Crandall did come back to catch 90 games in 1962 – hitting a career-high .297, making his final National League All-Star squad and winning his last Gold Glove – he was soon replaced by Torre as the Braves\' regular catcher. In 1962 he also moved ahead of Roy Campanella, setting the National League record for career fielding percentage; however, Johnny Roseboro would edge ahead of him before his career ended. After 1963, he was traded by the Braves to the San Francisco Giants in a seven-player deal; he played a backup role in his final three major league seasons with the Giants (1964), Pittsburgh Pirates (1965), and Cleveland Indians (1966).\n', '