Creepy Crespi
| Frank "Creepy" Crespi | |||
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| St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Second baseman | |||
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Born: February 16, 1918 St. Louis, Missouri |
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Died: March 1, 1990 (aged 72) Florissant, Missouri |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 14, 1938, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 27, 1942, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .263 | ||
| Games Played | 264 | ||
| Runs batted in | 88 | ||
| Teams | |||
| St. Louis Cardinals (1938–1942) | |||
Frank Angelo Joseph "Creepy" Crespi (February 16, 1918 – March 1, 1990) was a Major League Baseball player who played infielder from 1938-1942 for the St. Louis Cardinals. He made his major league debut on 14 September 1938 playing second base for the Cardinals.
In 1951, longtime Cardinals star shortstop Marty Marion praised Crespi as the best defensive second baseman he'd ever played with. "For one year—1941—Crespi was the best second baseman I ever saw. He did everything, and sensationally."
Frank Crespi's nickname, 'Creepy', is widely considered one of the more colorful and unusual names in baseball history. In a 1977 radio interview with future hall-of-fame broadcaster Jack Buck, Creepy was asked if people still called him by his nickname (answer was yes). Jack followed up with, "Why do they call you that?" Crespi replied, "Well, it's an involved thing...I used to hear a lot of different stories. But I think the best one is (from) some sportswriter. He said the way I creep up on a ball, because I run low to the ground after a ground ball."
Although Crespi lost the starting second base job for the Cardinals in 1942 to Jimmy Brown, he still appeared in 93 games that season. The Cardinals won the National League pennant and played the New York Yankees in the 1942 World Series. Crespi played in one game in the World Series, serving as a pinch runner in game 1, and scoring a run. The Cardinals won the series, four games to one.
Crespi was drafted into the army in early 1943. Though he qualified for a deferment as the sole supporter of his elderly mother, he refused, claiming, "I don't think I'm too good to fight for the things I've always enjoyed."
During an Army baseball game in Kansas, he suffered a compound fracture of his left leg while turning a double play. Soon afterwards, he broke the same leg during a training accident, and later he broke it a third time during an impromptu wheelchair race while in the hospital.
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Wikipedia