finalyear death_date debutyear statvalue finalteam birth_date death_place finaldate image statlabel debutteam name throws caption birth_place debutdate bats position article_title
1918 17 august 1951 1908 102-62 606 2.92 boston braves 8 october 1887 bell , california august 31 doc crandall.jpg win-loss record strikeouts earned run average new york giants doc crandall right doc , 1914 . crandall in uniform for the st. louis terriers wadena , indiana april 24 right pitcher doc crandall

doc crandall

james otis crandall -lrb- october 8 , 1887 -- august 17 , 1951 -rrb- was a right-handed pitcher and second baseman .
he was the first player to be consistently used as a relief pitcher .
consequently , he was given the nickname doc by damon runyon who said crandall was `` the physician of the pitching emergency '' .
he played from 1908 to 1918 , debuting with the new york giants .
he was traded to the st. louis cardinals in 1913 , but played just two games with them before being sold back to the giants .
he also played for the st. louis terriers in the federal league in 1914 and 1915 , the st. louis browns in 1916 , and for the boston braves in 1918 .
that same year he flirted with a no-hitter in the morning game of a double-header in los angeles against salt lake city of the pacific coast league .
he carried the no-hitter into the 9th inning when , with two out , his outing was spoiled by karl crandall , his brother .
while crandall frequently started , he led the league in number of relief appearances for five consecutive seasons while with the giants .
in the period from 1910 to 1912 , he also led in relief victories going 45 -- 16 overall in that time period .
the giants won three consecutive pennants from 1911 to 1913 with crandall 's help .
even with his bulky frame , crandall was a quick fielder and thus played infield positions .
with his .285 lifetime hitting average , he was often a pinch hitter and in 1910 he led with a .342 batting average .
when the giants sent him to the cardinals in 1913 public outcry in new york was so big that the giants bought him back after only two games .
however , he ended up in st. louis again a year later in the federal league where he played more at second base than as pitcher .
in 1915 he led the federal league winning six times as relief pitcher out of his total 21 wins in that league .
after sitting out the 1917 season , he made an abbreviated comeback in 1918 with the braves .
crandall is a charter member of the pacific coast league hall of fame .
