Rogers State University Athletics

Steve Crawford is one of the former student-athletes whose time on College Hill predates the university's current incarnation as Rogers State as he was a stand-out baseball player at what was then known as Claremore Junior College. In his two years in Claremore, the Salina, Okla. native made significant contributions on the field as a pitcher and first baseman. With the Thunderbirds, Crawford pitched to a 5-2 record with a 1.37 ERA during the 1978 season and was named NJCAA Region 2 Pitcher of the Year and was named to the Regional All-Star team. However, it was after he left CJC that he began to make a name for himself as several major league baseball organizations began to take notice of Crawford, with many of them believing he had first round draft talent. On May 6, 1978, Crawford chose to sign an amateur free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox.
 
Crawford made his major league debut on September 2, 1980 at Fenway Park coming out of the bullpen in a 10-2 game against the California Angels (now the Anaheim Angels) and pitched a perfect eighth inning and got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth without surrendering a run, preserving the victory. He earned a spot in the starting rotation nine days later and would throw a complete game victory in an 8-3 win over the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) on September 18. In 1982, Crawford had arm surgery after he developed bone chips in his elbow and spent the next few seasons up and down between Triple-A Pawtucket and Boston. He found new life in 1984 as he was moved to the bullpen during the season and finished the year pitching 62 innings in 35 games with a 5-0 record and a 3.34 ERA.
 
One of the most memorable performances of his career came in the 1986 American League Championship Series against the California Angels. After an injury-plagued season, Crawford saw limited action out of the bullpen and would have missed the postseason roster if not for a knee injury to future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. In Game Five of the ALCS with the Red Sox down 3-1 in the series, Crawford came into a 6-6 tied game in the ninth inning with one out and a runner on first. After giving up a base hit that put the winning run 90 feet away at third, he bounced back with a first pitch pop-up to shallow right field to hold the runners in check. After starting 2-0 to the next batter, Crawford worked the count to 2-2 and snagged a soft line drive back to him to work out of the jam and force extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, he came back out to force "Mr. October" Reggie Jackson into a full-count groundout to start the frame and followed that up with a strikeout of Devon White. After walking Jerry Narron on four pitches, Crawford worked Gary Pettis to a full count before Pettis drove a ball to deep left field where Jim Rice caught the ball over his head at the wall for the third out. The Red Sox scored in the top of the 11th and Calvin Schiraldi came in to close the game in the bottom half to earn the save and give Crawford the win. After winning the series in seven games, the Red Sox would go on to face the New York Mets in the World Series. Crawford earned the win in Game Two of the series after relieving Roger Clemens in the fifth inning with Boston going on to win 9-3. He also saw action in games four and seven of the series.
 
Crawford finished his playing career in 1991 with the Kansas City Royals. After a short stint appearing on Royals radio broadcasts in the 1995 season, he returned to the field as a minor league pitching coach in the Royals organization until 2001.