Babe Cranfield
- Thread starter alphadog
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He was from upstate New York, he played in the 40's, 50's and 60's, winning the World 14.1 Championship once, I'm not sure of the year. He was known as a much better practice player than a tournament player though. A lot of great claims have been about his practice runs, such as:
High run of 768 balls
High run on a 5 x 10 table of 420 balls
Running 493 balls one night and then running 491 the next night
Many runs over 300 and 400 where he just quit without missing
I have no idea how true any of these claims are though, but he really must have been good to have so many legends arise about him.
High run of 768 balls
High run on a 5 x 10 table of 420 balls
Running 493 balls one night and then running 491 the next night
Many runs over 300 and 400 where he just quit without missing
I have no idea how true any of these claims are though, but he really must have been good to have so many legends arise about him.
He was born in the 20's and his father ran a pool roomin New Yorkgot very good quuicklyplayed a lot of people. He got his nick name from Babe ruth. he won a world championship rsrly and then got out of the game to become an executive with Musak bbbwhere he stayed for 20+ years. He travelled to Troy New york to play straight pool with Joe Cantron. a US Open straight playerand he put on some ewxhibitions with other players includung Jrvcing ZCrane and others
abe could shoot wing shots for hours and not miss.
abe could shoot wing shots for hours and not miss.
Thanks,Jack
He's the only player to have won a national juniors title, a national amateur title and a World Championship - no one else has won all three. His 420 ball run on a 5 x 10 table was witnessed by a crowd of spectators in Syracuse.
He was also known to be a scratch golfer.
He was also known to be a scratch golfer.
Everything posted here so far is true. I became friends with Babe when I was in grad school, and I wrote about him in a piece I wrote for Esquire in 1998. Babe was one of the greatest straight pool players ever--200-ball runs were nothing for him. I think the only thing I might add is that Babe was NOT great in competition. This might sound odd, since he beat Lassiter in a challenge match for the title in '64, but Babe was incredibly nervous in competition--sometimes he'd have more than one cigarette lit, and he was always a bundle of nerves. He actually had Lassiter beat in the tournament in '63 (I think it was) and blew it on cinch shot. Babe told me he was literally sick after that, and walked around NYC that night for hours. Babe is also the person who first told me about Ralph Greenleaf, who Babe toured with; I'm at work now on a novel based on Greenleaf's life, and one of the characters is at least in part based on Babe Cranfield.
Book's coming along--should have a draft done by the end of the summer, and then hopefully something approaching readable by the end of the year. You around next weekend? May try to make that one pocket tournament at Red Shoes.
I believe he played at a pool room in Holiday Bowl on the corner of Erie blvd and Thompson Rd.
I saw Mosconi and Joe Balsis there in the 60's.
Kim