CRABTREE COMES HOME TO LEAD RED ROBINS
Red Springs native to manage inaugural Tobacco State League season
By Chase Murphy | Summer Intern
Red Springs — April 2, 2025
The Red Robins have a skipper — and he’s one of our own.
The Red Springs Baseball Club officially introduced
Elijah Crabtree as the team’s first manager Wednesday morning, confirming what many locals were already hoping for: that the hometown kid who once caught bullpen sessions behind the First Baptist Church is now the man calling the shots.
Crabtree, 45, is no stranger to Robeson County. A graduate of Red Springs High and later Methodist University in Fayetteville, he played several years of independent ball before returning home to run youth leagues and coach summer teams across the region. And now? He’s back in red and white — this time with a lineup card in his back pocket.
“This town gave me everything,” Crabtree said. “I’m not trying to reinvent baseball. I just want to do it the Red Springs way — play hard, respect the game and leave the park a little better than we found it.”
The hire is a win for both baseball fans and hometown hearts. Crabtree brings more than experience — he brings roots.
Team owner Kyle Locklear, himself a Red Springs native whose grandfather once owned tobacco fields near where Robbins Stadium now sits, had no hesitation when it came to Crabtree.
“Elijah gets it,” McNeill said. “He knows what this team means to this town. He’s not here for a paycheck. He’s here because this is home.”
And yeah, okay — I’m just the new guy on the sports desk for the summer, and this is technically my first real beat, but I’ve seen Crabtree coach. I’ve watched him pat kids on the back after strikeouts and sprint out to third to wave a 10-year-old home like it was Game 7. The guy cares. And you know what? That matters.
Red Springs may be one of the smallest markets in the Tobacco State League, but with Crabtree in charge, don’t be surprised if we end up being the toughest out in the bunch.
Chase Murphy is a summer intern for The Robesonian. He will be a senior at UNC Pembroke this fall. Reach him at cmurphy@robesonian.com or catch him behind the first-base dugout with a scorebook and a hot dog.
