“He had one hit and then another,’’ Bourn said. “I stuck around and kept watching and he had a hit the third time he came up. I loved how he swung the bat. I’ll never forget that day.’’
Bourn returned home and told his son Michael about the player he discovered and how he planned to lure him over to the Angels.
Michael, now the starting center fielder of the Houston Astros, raised the pitch of his voice to imitate his reaction.
“I said, ‘Daddy, the Salvation Army? Ain’t no way they have a player who’s any good,’ ’’ Bourn said. “But my dad saw it. He told Carl’s coach he wanted to take him to a camp to show him a few things. But he went and talked to Carl’s momma and signed him up.’’
With Carl and Michael in the lineup, the Angels soared. Crawford, like his new coach, craved winning and came to love baseball. Prodded by Bourn, Crawford stuck with the sport when others he knew dropped away.
“It’s not an easy sport for a black kid from the city,’’ Crawford said. “You have to make a commitment. Mike’s dad, he instilled that desire in me. I can remember him always being, ‘Win, win, win.’ I wanted to win anyway. I think you’re either born with it or you’re not. The combination of those two really made it where I just wanted to do my best all the time.’’
The burgeoning young player from the Salvation Army team became one of the best high school athletes Houston has ever produced — talented enough to merit scholarship offers to play quarterback at Nebraska or point guard at UCLA. But he chose baseball, embarking on a career that would take him to the game’s highest levels, all the way to a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox.
Crawford doesn’t like to acknowledge the part good timing can play in a person’s life. He has always measured success by sweat, believing hard work will supersede factors out of his control.
But when he thinks of that day in 1990 and how fortunate he was to cross paths with the determined Ray Bourn, Crawford can’t help but shake his head.
