Sam "The Man" Crowley: My Greatest of All-Time

[Hendu Style]

I had to share this with you guys. I'm playing a fictional universe with realistic stats, and I had a guy just finish an incredible career. To put things in perspective just how great Sam "The Man" Crowley was in relation to his contemporaries, his single season record of 50 homeruns in 1934 was 9 more than the previous record. His 619 lifetime homeruns were 151 more than the former record.

He won a record 12 League MVP Awards. He was named to the All-Star team an incredible 17 times. He was a 5-time Triple Crown winner.

At the time of his retirement, Crowley owned nine career records, and ranked in the top-6 in eight more categories:

*619 Homeruns (1st)
*3380 Hits (1st)
*1999 Runs (1st)
*1965 RBI (1st)
*5810 Total Bases (1st)
*.587 Slugging Percentage (1st)
*1.010 On-Base plus Slugging Pct (1st)
*1367.9 Value Above Replacement (1st)
*137.5 Wins Above Replacement (1st)

.341 Batting Average (6th)
.422 On-Base Percentage (4th)
2616 Games (4th)
9892 At-Bats (4th)
2276 Singles (3rd)
397 Doubles (5th)
1391 Walks (5th)
2002 Strikeouts (2nd)

Crowley also owned the single-season records for homeruns (50 in 1934), RBI (147 in 1939), slugging percentage (.752 in 1942), OPS (1.247 in 1942), and total bases (403 in 1941), while hitting an astonishing .409 in 1942, the second-highest average in baseball history.

He consistently ranked atop the SBL's league leaders in several key categories:

Hits: 8 Times (1935-37, 1939, 1941-42, 1945-46)
Total Bases: 11 Times (1934-42, 1944-46)
Homeruns: 10 Times (1934-35, 1937, 1939-42, 1944-46)
Stolen Bases: 2 Times (1935-36)
RBI: 8 Times (1934-35, 1937, 1939, 1942, 1944-46)
Runs: 11 Times (1934-35, 1939-47)
Walks: 2 Times (1935-36)
Batting Average: 9 Times (1935-37, 1939-43, 1945)

He was my league's first ever 50/30 man (50 homeruns, 31 steals in 1934), and the first 40/50 man (43 homeruns, 57 steals in 1935). Amazingly, he had at least 30 homeruns and 30 steals in four straight seasons from 1934 to 1937.

His 1942 season, in which he hit .409 with 44 homeruns, 124 RBI, and 127 runs scored, is regarded as the greatest individual season in SBL history.

At the age of 20, he made his big league debut and hit 24 homeruns, drove in 89 runs, and scored 96 times. At the age of 39, in what would be his final season, he hit .303 with 14 homeruns and had 84 RBI. Pretty much every season in between was an All-Star or MVP campaign.

He truly was "The Man."

If you want to check out Crowley's evolution in my league, here's a link to the dynasty thread.

SAMUEL THOMAS CROWLEY
"THE MAN"
Northgate Knights 1933-1951

Greatest drawing card in history of baseball, holder of many home run and other batting records. Won 9 batting titles and 10 home run crowns.
Gathered 619 round-trippers along with 12 MVP awards and one Sim Series title. Lifetime .341 batting average.

[r0nster]

Impressed with the players stats. Shame he had that injury the year before his retirement that way he could have had 2000 runs and RBIs to his credit as well as possible 3500 hits if he played the whole season.

I wonder how his manager did during this players tenure on the team. How many World Series did he win ???

I saw your thread my goodness your players have such longevity and darn good WOW.

[byzeil]

Nice career....

Where did you get the image for the HoF Plaque? Looking to start the HoF for a on-line league I'm in and would love to use that Plaque.

[Orcin]

"His 1942 season, in which he hit .409 with 44 homeruns, 124 RBI, and 127 runs scored, is regarded as the greatest individual season in SBL history."

That's a pretty good season in anybody's history! That's a really great career.

[Hendu Style]

Originally Posted by r0nster

Impressed with the players stats. Shame he had that injury the year before his retirement that way he could have had 2000 runs and RBIs to his credit as well as possible 3500 hits if he played the whole season.

I wonder how his manager did during this players tenure on the team. How many World Series did he win ???

I saw your thread my goodness your players have such longevity and darn good WOW.

They won one Sim Series (World Series) during his career. He played on some great squads, but unfortunately was stuck behind two powerhouse teams in the 30's (Rocklyn Railers) and 40's (Santo Cielo Seals). They had a span of 8 straight seasons with 90 or more wins from 1942 to 1949 but didn't win a single championship in that span (including a 2nd place finish despite a 107-55 record in '47!).

[Hendu Style]

Originally Posted by byzeil

Nice career....

Where did you get the image for the HoF Plaque? Looking to start the HoF for a on-line league I'm in and would love to use that Plaque.

I googled HOF plaque and then photoshopped everything. Feel free to use my image as a template if you want. Pretty easy to edit if you know the basics of Photoshop.

[Broooklyn]

Love the HoF plaque. Just a suggestion regarding the use of the photo. What you should do is use the 'Chrome' effect within PSP. (If you have the software, of course; but it looks as though you may just have Photoshop. [I use both because of the different effects both give me]) It would truly make his image pop nicely once you can get just the right tone to match.

[Hendu Style]

Originally Posted by Broooklyn

Love the HoF plaque. Just a suggestion regarding the use of the photo. What you should do is use the 'Chrome' effect within PSP. (If you have the software, of course; but it looks as though you may just have Photoshop. [I use both because of the different effects both give me]) It would truly make his image pop nicely once you can get just the right tone to match.

I tried the Chrome effect on Photoshop but couldn't get it to look right. You're right... it would've made it perfect. If anyone wants to tweak it, I'll gladly use it!

[r0nster]

bet Markus would love this HOF design to use in the game

[Andriko]

I've been a big fan of the SBL Dynasty Report since it started, and I have to admit the Sam Crowley years were awesome! Makes me want to just sim a hands off game for a 100 years and see what happens.

[byzeil]

Originally Posted by Hendu Style

I googled HOF plaque and then photoshopped everything. Feel free to use my image as a template if you want. Pretty easy to edit if you know the basics of Photoshop.

Thanks, I've been working on it a bit....

[Hendu Style]

Originally Posted by Andriko

I've been a big fan of the SBL Dynasty Report since it started, and I have to admit the Sam Crowley years were awesome! Makes me want to just sim a hands off game for a 100 years and see what happens.

Those kinds of players make it fun to just zero in on one guy while you're simming out a season. I was pumping my fist when Crowley had his .400 season. Don't be fooled by that .409 clip... he was hovering right at .400 over the last week of the season.

[bailey]

What are the ballpark factors of his home park?

[Hendu Style]

Originally Posted by bailey

What are the ballpark factors of his home park?

1.044 batting average and homeruns overall.

1.00 for RHB, 1.125 for LHB.