Roger Craig was a former MLB pitcher, coach, and manager who was part of four World Championship teams and whose advocacy for the split-finger fastball helped popularize the pitch.
- Died: June 4, 2023 (Who else died on June 4?)
- Details of death: Died in San Diego at the age of 93.
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Roger Craig’s legacy
Before Craig began teaching the pitch that would change baseball in the 1980s and 1990s, he was a World Championship pitcher in his own right. Craig played his rookie season with the legendary 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming part of the team’s first ever championship. He remained a Dodgers mainstay in the years that followed, having an especially strong 1959 season and helping the team to win another championship. He also pitched for the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the St. Louis Cardinals before retiring from playing, winning a third championship with the Cardinals in 1964.
Craig would go on to become a pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, and Houston Astros. In that capacity, he often taught the split-finger fastball, a relatively new variation on the forkball that had not yet been widely adopted in Major League Baseball. He didn’t invent the pitch – that is widely credited to coach Fred Martin (1915–1979), who helped Bruce Sutter (1953–2022) turn it into the devastating pitch it became – but he was largely responsible for spreading it throughout the league, teaching it to anyone who asked, even players from opposing teams.
Craig’s success molding the Detroit Tigers pitching staff in the 1980s landed him a job as the manager of the San Francisco Giants. He led the team from 1985 to 1992, and his accomplishments included a division title in 1987 and an appearance in the now infamous 1989 “Subway Series” against the Oakland Athletics, a World Series marred by a deadly earthquake. He retired after the 1992 season. Craig was widely known as “Humm Baby,” a general term for anything or anyone good, one that he used often.
Notable quote
“Humm Baby”—Nickname and oft-used phrase
Tributes to Roger Craig
Full obituary: The New York Times
