Warren Cromartie

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Warren Cromartie
Montreal Expos outfielder Warren Cromartie (cropped).jpg
Cromartie with the Montreal Expos in 1980
Outfielder / First baseman
Born: (1953-09-29) September 29, 1953 (age 70)
Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
Professional debut
MLB: September 6, 1974, for the Montreal Expos
NPB: April 6, 1984, for the Yomiuri Giants
Last appearance
NPB: June 2, 1990, for the Yomiuri Giants
MLB: September 15, 1991, for the Kansas City Royals
Games PA AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO Avg. OBP Slg. OPS Fld%
1107431839274591104229326139150325403.281.336.402.739.986

In seven seasons in Japan, Cromartie batted over.300 five times. All told, he compiled a .321 batting average with 171 home runs and 558 RBIs for the Yomiuri Giants. He led the Giants three times in RBIs, twice in home runs and twice in batting. [32]

Climb

Cromartie is an accomplished drummer, and has jammed with Canadian rock band Rush. [23] A blueprint for the fictional "Warren Cromartie Secondary School" appears on the back cover of Rush's 1982 release, Signals , and Cromartie is thanked in the album's liner notes.

While in Japan, Cromartie formed an AOR band called Climb with David Rosenthal of Rainbow. Rush lead singer Geddy Lee appears on the track "Who's Missin' Who" from their 1988 release, Take A Chance. [33] Mitch Malloy and Foreigner's Lou Gramm also make guest appearances on the album.

Broadcasting

Right as his only season in Kansas City was set to start, his autobiography (co-written with Robert Whiting) detailing his playing days in Japan, Slugging It Out in Japan: An American Major-Leaguer in the Tokyo Outfield, hit bookstores.

Cromartie began doing Florida Marlins pre-game shows for WQAM radio in 1997, and remained a broadcaster with the Marlins in one form or another through 2002. He served as the television color commentator for the Montreal Expos in the team's final year of existence (2004). He currently hosts a radio show on WAXY 790 AM in Miami, Florida. "Talking Hardball with The Cro" currently airs on Saturday during baseball season. [34] He has his own segment on the TSN 690 in Montreal, and regularly airs at 4:00 PM Eastern on weekdays with Mitch Melnick.

In 2005, Cromartie sued the makers of a film based on the manga/anime series Cromartie High School in Japanese court. The series does not feature Cromartie himself but does depict students who "smoke, fight with students from other schools and are depicted as ruffians" which he says defames his character as the school shares his name.

Coaching

The Miami native held his first baseball camp at Miami-Dade Community College's North Campus in 1994. He was the manager of the Japan Samurai Bears, an all-Japanese team in the independent U.S. Golden Baseball League during the league's only season (2005). Danny Gold and Matthew Asner of Mod 3 Productions filmed a documentary of the club entitled Season of the Samurai. It aired on the MLB Network in 2010. [35]

He formed the Montreal Baseball Project in 2012 to launch a feasibility study into bringing Major League Baseball back to Montreal. [36]

Other ventures

He, Andre Dawson and Cecil Fielder of the Detroit Tigers (whom Cromartie met while the two played in Japan) teamed up to form "Sports Dent" in 1993. The company produced baseball themed dental hygiene products, including a baseball bat shaped toothbrush, a toothbrush holder that plays Take Me Out to the Ballgame , a dental floss dispenser shaped like home plate and mock baseball cards to record one's "Runs brushed in." [37]

In 2007, he made his professional wrestling debut at an event called "Hustle Aid" to benefit leukemia research. He and Ryoji Sai took on Tiger Jeet Singh and An Joenosuke in a tag team match at Tokyo's Saitama Arena. [38] As Singh is known for walking around with a sword in his mouth, Cromartie showed up with a baseball bat, and wearing a baseball uniform with the words "Samurai Man" across his chest and the number 49 from his playing days on the back. The match ended with Cromartie pinning An Joenosuke for the victory. [39]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Bob Dunn (August 8, 1977). "A Bargain, And Bye-bye Basement". Sports Illustrated .
  2. ↑ Cesar Brioso (September 15, 2000). "Negro Leaguer Cromartie Dies". Sun Sentinel .
  3. ↑ "Leroy Cromartie". Baseball in Living Color: Negro Leagues Baseball History.
  4. ↑ Brad Willson (March 30, 1975). "Bailey Sidelined With Broken Bone". Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal . p. 3C.
  5. ↑ "Montreal Expos 4, New York Mets 3". Baseball-Reference.com. July 2, 1977.
  6. ↑ "It Took a Bunt, but Rose Kept Streak Alive". Observer–Reporter . July 20, 1978.
  7. ↑ "Montreal Expos 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 2". Baseball-Reference.com. April 6, 1979.
  8. ↑ Norm King. "Warren Cromartie". Society for American Baseball Research.
  9. ↑ Pat Livingston (March 30, 1980). "How Do Expos Spell Trouble? L-e-F-l-o-r-e". Pittsburgh Press .
  10. ↑ Joe Potter (December 11, 1979). "Santa Campbell Gives Expos Christmas Gift". Virgin Islands Daily News .
  11. ↑ "New York Mets 9, Montreal Expos 5". Baseball-Reference.com. July 4, 1980.
  12. ↑ "Mets and Expos End Long Day with Fight". The Day (New London) . July 5, 1980.
  13. ↑ "Dodgers Stay Alive, Expos Bow to Phillies". Leader-Post . October 6, 1980.
  14. ↑ "LeFlore Not Wanted By Expos". The StarPhoenix . November 29, 1980.
  15. ↑ "Expos Send Mets an Early Valentine". Leader-Post. May 30, 1981.
  16. ↑ Michael Farber (August 21, 1981). "Expos Get Milner as Montanez Dealt". The Gazette (Montreal) .
  17. ↑ "1981 National League Division Series, Game One". Baseball-Reference.com. October 7, 1981.
  18. ↑ Bob Elliott (sportswriter) (April 1, 1982). "Oliver 'Will Make the Difference'". Ottawa Citizen .
  19. ↑ "Montreal Expos 3, St. Louis Cardinals 2". Baseball-Reference.com. June 7, 1982.
  20. ↑ Ralph Bernstein (August 5, 1982). "Joel Youngblood Makes History With Mets, Expos". Portsmouth Daily Times .
  21. ↑ Vin Mannix (March 6, 1983). "Cromartie & Francona". Boca Raton News .
  22. ↑ Brian Kappler (July 21, 1983). "Expos Thump Reds Ace for Victory". Montreal Gazette.
  23. 1 2 "Disgusted Cromartie Off to Japan". Montreal Gazette. December 29, 1983.
  24. 1 2 Robert Whiting (August 21, 1989). "The Master Of Besaboru". Sports Illustrated.
  25. ↑ Dave Komosky (September 22, 1984). "Button Up, Mr. Sather". The Phoenix.
  26. ↑ Cromartie, Warren (August 1, 2014). "5 for Friday: Warren Cromartie, Montreal's next best baseball savior" (Interview). Interviewed by Erik Malinowski. Fox Sports. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 Eric Talmadge (May 24, 1989). "Cromartie Likes Japan's Pitching". Bangor Daily News .
  28. ↑ Eric Talmadge (July 3, 1988). "Japanese Baseball May Change 'Foreigners' Rule". The Daily Union .
  29. ↑ "Yomiuri Wins Japan Series Title". Ocala Star-Banner . October 30, 1989.
  30. ↑ Ken Willis (March 25, 1991). "After 15 Seasons, Cromartie Brings Bat Home to America". The News Journal .
  31. ↑ "Cromartie Career Ends at Age 37". Lawrence Journal-World . September 16, 1991.
  32. ↑ "Past Yomiuri Giants Stars". The Yakult Swallows Home Plate.
  33. ↑ "Rush Guest Appearances". Power Windows.
  34. ↑ "Talkin' Hardball With The Cro". Sportstalk 790 AM/104.3 FM.
  35. ↑ "Former MLBer Warren Cromartie manages all-Japanese baseball team in Season of the Samurai". MLB.com . June 24, 2010.
  36. ↑ Bill Beacon (March 20, 2013). "Ex-Expo Warren Cromartie Heads Group Studying Viability of Returning Baseball to Montreal". The Vancouver Sun .
  37. ↑ "Names in the News". The Daily Sentinel. August 10, 1993.
  38. ↑ "Ex-Expos outfielder Cromartie Will Step into the Ring". ESPN. June 12, 2007.
  39. ↑ Alastair Himmer (June 18, 2007). "Former MLB Player Roughs Up Angry Tiger". Reuters.

Bibliography

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