I'm really serious. Who is he? There must be more to the story than the information I've found. In 1962, he signed with the Twins. He made his debut with the Twins in 1969. In 1970, he was traded to the White Sox. Then, after the 1970 season, no info.He was 28 in his final year. He batted a miserable .083 for the Sox in 1970. The designated hitter wasn't introduced in the American League until 1973. He was 4-7 with a 4.45 ERA in 1970. Not the greatest, but I've seen a lot worse. It was certainly better than his 4.71 ERA with the Twinkies the previous year.
I guess being born in 1976, I can only try to interpret what happened before I was born with the information I find. It's just that sometimes, people and information fall through the cracks over time. My guess is that he was in the minors until 1969. That's pretty much given. What happened after 1970? Did he go back to the minors? Was he released or traded? Did he quit baseball? That info is not readily available to me.
If anyone has info on what happened to Jerry Crider, please leave a comment. I will update this posting with any reliable information. I will post other players who have seemed to slip through the cracks occasionally. Maybe we can bring these stories to light.
Jerry Crider was an amazing person. He passed away last night (4/4/08) after a long battle of emphazima (sp) and congestive heart failure. After retiring from baseball he moved his family to Mexico where he started a hunting and fishing business and ran it for 19 years. He moved back to Phoenix in 2000 to receive medical care and lived here since. He was a man with a million stories, knew every statistic, every bit of history and made you laugh. He loved his grandchildren (all 7 of them!), loved his sports and loved his betting! :)
ReplyDeleteGod Bless Jerry and his entire family during this difficult time.
Thank you for the information. I'm sorry to hear about his losing battle. He sounds like he was a wonderful person. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
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