Fred Crane

Frederic William Hotchkiss Crane

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
• Height 5' 9", Weight 135 lb.

• Born November 4, 1840 in Old Saybrook, CT USA
• Died April 27, 1925 in Brooklyn, NY USA

Biographical Information

The SABR biographies of Asa Brainard and Dickey Pearce state that Fred Crane, along with Frank Norton and Pearce, jumped from the amateur Brooklyn Atlantics (most likely in 1866) to the Brooklyn Excelsiors, but Pearce and Crane came back to the Atlantics in August. The book Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan indicates that Fred was "the celebrated second base of the Atlantics" in 1866, and that he might move to Detroit. In 1869, he was still playing for the amateur Atlantics, but had retired by 1870.

His first name was then wrongly appended to another player, an infielder in the National Association in the early 1870s, whose last name was also Crane. For a long time, he was also listed as "Fred Crane" but was in fact two different ballplayers, Thomas Crane and William Crane.

Further Reading

• "Not Fred Crane", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, March/April 2024, pp. 1-2.
• "A Story of Two Cranes", Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, May/June 2025, pp. 2.

Related Sites

• Protoball page