Babe Cranfield
- Thread starter Wedge
- Start date
babe
mr cranfeild was not only a great player but person as well got a chance to play with him when i was a kid learned i wasn't as good as him lol by the way upstate ny don't start till you get to syracuse and north of it i get upset when on the news they say upstate ny and it be around buffalo or near nyc people don't know nothing about ny but nyc
mr cranfeild was not only a great player but person as well got a chance to play with him when i was a kid learned i wasn't as good as him lol by the way upstate ny don't start till you get to syracuse and north of it i get upset when on the news they say upstate ny and it be around buffalo or near nyc people don't know nothing about ny but nyc
Any idea why he did that? The chalk thing.
Agreed. Wish he would do so more often. Maybe he could clarify some 'misunderstandings'. Although I did not know who he was until today, But he IS a THREE(3) Time World Champion with 86 years of life experience. I for one(1) would certainly listen to anything he had to say. Mybe 'we' can coax him out a little.
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Sang Lee, the many-time US 3-cushion champion, did the same thing. In his case I think it was to avoid even the appearance of marking the table for the shot. It's a habit I find myself doing sometimes.
Ray is in his 70's.
From his Hall of Fame mini-bio on the BCA web site:
RAY MARTIN: Born in 1936, his world titles in straight pool in 1971, 1974 and 1978 make Ray Martin one of only seven players in this century to win three or more world 14.1 titles. He has many nine-ball tournament wins to his credit as well, including the 1980 Caesars Tahoe Invitational, the 1981 ESPN King of the Hill, and the 1983 Music City Open. While concentrating today more on teaching than playing, Martin is still a threat in straight pool tournaments, finishing fourth and fifth in the 1992 and 1993 BCA U.S. Opens. In collaboration with Rosser Reeves, Martin wrote "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool" (1977).
I always put the chalk very near to me, never in a direction that I'm shooting. It could actually be put on a diamond to help 'see' the diamond if you bend all the way over to shoot as I do. I'm not saying that that is why he did it. I was just wondering. Your guess is probably correct.
Very nice. Nice is still a compliment even thou it is an overused word with no specifics.
Google search said born in 1936. My bad. I never could use a slide ruler & now I apparently can NOT do simple arithmetic in my head.
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Here's the entire obituary on Irving Crane, as published in The New York Times on November 25, 2001. It's a good read, and, as you'll see, Mosconi also had some very positive things to say about Irving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/s...o-billiards-is-dead-at-88.html?pagewanted=all
I googled for that picture and an old thread from AZ came up.
My picture had been taken down and another poster had found another
source for it.
My benefactor was the original poster in this thread.....
...thanx, Wedge...you had posted that in January
Your are quite welcome
Interesting story behind the picture. It was for sale (Framed Reprint) on Ebay in January for $60. shipped. I knew Babes friend Larry Moy would want it so I tried to contact him but I couldn't reach him. I bought the reprint and the next day before someoneelse scarfed it up. Larry emailed me and said he didn't get on Ebay in time and someone else got it. He was disappointed until I told him I bought it and would ship it to him. Larry send me the $60 and he got the Neiman reprint of his buddy Babe.
Wedge
Interesting story behind the picture. It was for sale (Framed Reprint) on Ebay in January for $60. shipped. I knew Babes friend Larry Moy would want it so I tried to contact him but I couldn't reach him. I bought the reprint and the next day before someoneelse scarfed it up. Larry emailed me and said he didn't get on Ebay in time and someone else got it. He was disappointed until I told him I bought it and would ship it to him. Larry send me the $60 and he got the Neiman reprint of his buddy Babe.
Wedge
Here is Babe's picture and brief bio from the 1965 rule book:
Arthur Cranfield
Arthur Cranfield won his first world championship in pocket billiards from
Luther Lassiter in the Schaefer Challenge Match In 1964. He earned the
right to the challenge by finishing second to Lassiter In the B.R.P.A.A.
World's Invitational earlier in the year. When not competing in championship
play, Cranfield serves as executive vice president of the Muzak Corp.
Arthur Cranfield won his first world championship in pocket billiards from
Luther Lassiter in the Schaefer Challenge Match In 1964. He earned the
right to the challenge by finishing second to Lassiter In the B.R.P.A.A.
World's Invitational earlier in the year. When not competing in championship
play, Cranfield serves as executive vice president of the Muzak Corp.
Stu,
You are correct regarding tournament competition.
As far as basic skill, it may be that Cranfield is a bit underrated. I had several long conversations with Pat Howey, who extolled Cranfield's virtues. While he had played with Crane and Cranfield extensively; he had a higher regard for Cranfield's skill level (though NEVER criticizing Crane). It may be that Cranfield was friendlier to Pat, causing some bias; but Pat was a very direct and sincere individual who had given it a lot of thought. He just thought Cranfield was better. It's hard to imagine anyone playing better than Irving (except for Willie).
Thanks for posting this, great article. I see now that Mosconi was chiding Crane a bit for his style, but taken in context, he was mostly complimentary. It didn't seem right that he wouldn't be, in fact, as both had numerous championship wins. We need more accounts of history like this.
Pat Howey was on my radar way back when but we never met. As part of the upstate NY pool scene, he could hardly be more qualified to comment on Crane vs. Cranfield, so you have to take it very seriously when he says that Cranfield had as much or even more skill than Irving.