A little r-e-s-p-e-c-t is about all Carl Crawford is asking for, seemingly a no-brainer for someone with his résumé. At the age of 24, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder has proven himself to be one of the game’s best. A two-time American League stolen base leader, Crawford on July 5 became the first Tampa Bay player to be successful on a straight steal of home. Despite his impressive statistics, Crawford has been picked off first when it comes to playing in Major League Baseball’s Midsummer Classic, the All-Star Game. The Houston native has failed to be selected to the AL team the past two years by either the fans or AL managers. Not long after this season’s game in Pittsburgh, Crawford spent a bit of time chatting about getting snubbed, exacting revenge and how you should always follow the rules of the game.
Anthony Cotton: Is this a situation where you’re going to be going from city to city, taking stuff out on everybody?
Carl Crawford: Nah, man. I’m just going to go out and play my game and stay consistent. Just do the stuff I do and try to improve my game.
AC: Did you end up watching the All-Star Game at all?
CC: I caught the end of it.
AC: Just the end? Were you trying to avoid it?
CC: It just made me think of everything all over again; it’s just one of those problem feelings. You know how that sorrowful feeling is. It’s kind of like breaking up with a girlfriend and then seeing her out with another guy.
AC: Did (Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie) Guillen or anyone else reach out to you to apologize?
CC: I don’t think he felt like he had to do that. I don’t think he thought it was anything important.
AC: So when do you play the White Sox again?
CC: In August (laughs).
AC: Aug. 5 at exactly 7 p.m.?
CC: Yeah. I’m not gonna make a big deal about it. It’s baseball, and it is what it is. I’ll just work a little harder in the offseason and see what happens again next year. I’m really not upset with Ozzie because (Boston Red Sox manager Terry) Francona did the same thing to me the year before. It’s starting to become a trend.
AC: There weren’t very many African-Americans playing in the game. You were an athlete who had to make that choice (Crawford was offered a football scholarship to Nebraska and a basketball scholarship to UCLA). How did you decide?
CC: At the time, it was a family decision. The money that was offered out of high school, we definitely hadn’t seen dollars like that before. Going to play football seemed…with the money, the options were definitely better playing baseball.
AC: Was there ever a point when you thought about switching back to one of the others?
CC: I always thought about it because I wanted to see what I could have done in the others. My friends would always tell me they wished they could have seen me play the others. And then, Nebraska made it to the national championship game the year I would have been playing quarterback for them. That definitely had me thinking about it.
AC: And then this year, you get Vince Young taking Texas to the championship.
CC: And he’s from Houston. But I’m happy with how things have gone for me with baseball. I’m still young, I’ll get better every year. I just stay positive and think the better years are still ahead of me.
AC: What would you do to get more blacks to stay with baseball?
CC: They have to stick with it. The thing is, I think it gets a little boring for them. Even for me. I had quit at one point in time. It seems like when you get to high school, you lose interest in it for some reason. I was a victim of that. I quit my high school team, but I was lucky. An uncle of mine and my coach asked me to come back out. I talk to a lot blacks who say, “I used to play baseball, but when I got to high school I just stopped.” That seems like the point in time when guys give it up.
AC: You made your major-league debut on July 20, 2002. What do you remember about it?
CC: I got my first hit and drove in a couple of runs, stole a base. I was still in la-la land. I couldn’t believe I was there.
AC: Who were you playing and who was the pitcher?
CC: It was the Toronto Blue Jays, but the pitcher? Oh man, I can’t remember! I’ll have to look at the baseball. I don’t think he’s in the league anymore.
AC: So it wasn’t someone like Roy Halladay?
CC: No, nobody like that.
AC: What do you think the deal is with guys today and stealing, that it doesn’t happen the way it did even as recently as in Rickey Henderson’s day?
CC: Well, with the steroid era, I think everyone just started focusing on home runs. Now that that’s gone, we have to start relying more on the short game. If you look at the team that’s won the championship the last few years, they’ve had speed at the top of the order. I think a lot of teams want to emulate that pattern. That’s what brings success now, speed at the top of the order.
AC: Will guys start trying to steal home, too?
CC: Somebody might want to try it. In that case, the opportunity was there. The guy (Boston pitcher Jason Johnson) went into the windup when I was on third base. After that, I don’t know if too many pitchers are going to be going into the windup, at least not against me.
AC: You sound like you were insulted.
CC: You have to know the situation. It was one of those things that I’ve never had happen before. To do that was sort of challenging me in some sort of way.
AC: But you didn’t show him up by coming out of the dugout for a curtain call.
CC: Oh no, nah, man. I didn’t think that was necessary. We weren’t blowing them out, we needed the run. That’s the only time I really like to steal bases. I don’t run just to put up numbers, I steal when the game says we need a stolen base in a particular situation.
AC: He might have plunked you the next time you came up.
CC: He couldn’t throw at me in that situation because he gave it to me. That’s part of the game – you have to understand who it is you have on base. If he’d have hit me in that situation, I’d have been highly upset.
AC: So you get into all those unwritten rules and baseball codes and all of that?
CC: I try my best to follow the codes. I don’t like to make other teams mad, I like having the respect of my peers and the people I play against. Anytime one of those unwritten rules are in effect, I definitely try not to break ’em. And I know when those times are.
AC: How do you learn that stuff? Does somebody take you under their wings and say, “Don’t do this here” and “Don’t do that there?”
CC: You have veteran guys, but you sit around and watch games, you know what to do and what not to do. If you’re blowing a team out in the seventh inning, you’re definitely not trying to steal a base. Or if you’re up by 10 runs in the late innings, you don’t go up and hack at the first pitch. It’s the little stuff to show that you respect everybody.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
