Frank P. Crossin

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Frank P. Crossin was born on June 15, 1891, and died on Dec. 6, 1965. Frank Crossin started his career in baseball as a catcher for the Luzerne Reds in 1909. He played for Bloomsburg in 1910 and 1911, where they were champions for two years. At the age of 21, he moved to Binghamton in the New York State League, where he fielded .924 and batted .235. They won the championship that year. Scribes considered him the best young catcher in this circuit, and before the close of the 1912 season, he was brought up to play for the St. Louis Browns in Sportsman Park, now Busch Stadium. In the last remaining games, he hit at a better clip (.277) than with Binghamton. He played for the St. Louis Browns from 1912 to 1914. In 1913, he only played a few games and hit .333 behind the first string catcher. Frank established a record in 1914 that is still holding today. He had the most unassisted double plays, two, for a catcher in a single season. Many players have had two, but not in a single season. In 1914 he hurt his arm and wasn’t hitting, so at the end of the season he was sent to Louisville. Crossin played for Louisville in 1915 and 1916, where he found someone by the name of Bonesetter Reese to correct his arm problem. This was late in the season but it helped him in his hitting. His last season with Louisville was very successful. There was a big trade and Frank was sent on option to play for the Scranton Miners. He played for the Scranton Miners in 1917. He had such a good season that Louisville wanted to take him back, but he was drafted by another organization, the United States Army. Frank P. Crossin from Luzerne, Pennsylvania, played three seasons in the big leagues catching against such players as Ty Cobb, and batted against Walter Johnson, and still holds the record for the most unassisted double plays for a catcher in one season. If he wasn’t called to the Army, like so many young men who were called to serve their country, we don’t know to what heights he would have risen.