An excellent tribute to Babe Cranfield!!!

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This is for anyone in this forum (especially straight pool players) who would like to know more about the history of one of the true grand masters of straight pool, Babe Cranfield, told by one of his closest friends and student, Larry Moy (co-author of the Straight Pool Bible). The article is in the August issue of Pool & Billiard Magazine. It is the first part of a two part story. If you like, please post a reply to this message and tell me what you think of the article so far. If you have any stories about Babe, I would love to hear about them. Thanks.

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A Couple "Babe" Cranfield

In 1963-64 after I had just learned to play pool at college I returned home to North Syracuse for Christmas break. All my high school friends were playing so I ended up at a place in Matydale. There were quite a few good players (30 or 40 ball runs) so I was excited about watching a learning a bit. My 2nd time there "Babe" walked in and my friends told me he was real good - this was obvious to me because he had his own cue. Any after he selected one of four shafts to use he got into a game with one of the players I had seen run 40 balls earlier. I was told to watch and keep quiet. It was boring, no shots I couldn't make and he seemed to luck into position after the break; however after a while I realized his opponent (the 40 ball runner) was just racking balls and I realized he was losing zero to over 100 without ever shooting. That 1st run was 123 and I was hooked.
A week later I walked in to see a crowd around a table where "Babe" was shooting alone, he ran 50 or 60 more balls while I watched. When he missed everyone applauded, I had just seen the end of a 350 ball run.

In 1964 Cranfield came in second to Luther Lassiter in the World Championship tournament and was allowed to challenge the winner fo the title. They played a 1200 point match (3 days) that was televised in the New York City area. Cranfield won easily with a display of great playing, he had 4 runs over 100 on his way to 1200. To make the telecast even better Willie Mosconi provided the color and offered clear explainations of the why as well as the what was happening.

As far as I know there are no films of Cranfield playing. If you know of any I would love to see them. I have a few more stories if you would like but some of them are not quite believable.

Hope you liked these.

Peter Harth
 
Babe Cranfield televised...

On occasion, ESPN Classic will run a series that was televised in the early
80's entitled "The Legends of Pocket Billiards"...it features, among others, Willie Mosconi, Babe Cranfield, "Cowboy" Jimmy Moore, Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter, Irving "Deacon" Crane, U.J. Puckett, and the impersonator, Rudolph Wanderone (a.k.a. Minnesota Fats)...!!! They play a series of matches of 7-ball, 9-ball, and then 8-ball to break the ties...!!!
I recorded a match on VHS that features "Cowboy" Jimmy Moore and Irving "Deacon" Crane, as I always enjoyed seeing Jimmy Moore play.
 
harthpg said:
As far as I know there are no films of Cranfield playing. If you know of any I would love to see them. I have a few more stories if you would like but some of them are not quite believable.

Hope you liked these.

Peter Harth
Click to expand...

Not sure if he still has a supply of them but Bert Kinister (www.bertkinister.com) had the only tape that I've heard of with Babe Cranfield playing U. J. Puckett 7 ball; 8 ball; and 9 ball. Unfortunately I've never seen a 14.1 tape with him playing.

I was fortunate enough to meet Babe in '86 at Cap's Cue Club in Syracuse, NY. Although he was 70 or 71 at the time you could sit and watch him run a 100 balls. He would come in with his own set of balls, slide out the butt of his cue from his case, flip around 6 or 7 shafts he had, slap the cue together and commence to run ball after ball. He just made it look ever so easy. He also showed me quite a few rather sporty shots on the 3 cushion table.

RIP Babe, your legend lives on.

BTW, my avator is a pic of Babe.
 
More "Babe" Cranfield Stories

During an exhibition in 1963 or 64 I saw him perform some feats that I felt were beyond the ordinary. He demonstrated a series of "wing" shots where the object ball was rolled and then pocketed while moving. These were pretty ordinary although he did a couple where he rolled 2 balls and made the combination. But then he had the 12 year old son of the room owner roll (throw would be a better description) the ball. The ball would hit side rails at high speed and he still made them. Often the boy would attempt to fake him out before throwing but it made no difference they all went in.

He also shot a number of blindfold shots. For these the object ball would be on the table and he would place the cue ball and position his hand, then he would raise the cue above his head and turn his head away without looking again he would replace the cue and make the shot. This seem like a novelty trick but it demonstrated how perfect his stance and body position were.

OK. I'll describe the last shot he made, it's not believable but I saw it. He set the cue ball on the table then grabbed 3 balls in one hand. He rolled the 3 balls slowly down the table, turned away, positioned his stick behind his back and shot making the combination. To be clear this was a one handed, behind the back, 3 ball wing shot combo, without looking.

The crowd asked him to do it again and he wisely refused.

He was a great player and a great asset to the game. He will be missed.
 
harthpg said:
In 1963-64 after I had just learned to play pool at college I returned home to North Syracuse for Christmas break. All my high school friends were playing so I ended up at a place in Matydale. There were quite a few good players (30 or 40 ball runs) so I was excited about watching a learning a bit. My 2nd time there "Babe" walked in and my friends told me he was real good - this was obvious to me because he had his own cue. Any after he selected one of four shafts to use he got into a game with one of the players I had seen run 40 balls earlier. I was told to watch and keep quiet. It was boring, no shots I couldn't make and he seemed to luck into position after the break; however after a while I realized his opponent (the 40 ball runner) was just racking balls and I realized he was losing zero to over 100 without ever shooting. That 1st run was 123 and I was hooked.
A week later I walked in to see a crowd around a table where "Babe" was shooting alone, he ran 50 or 60 more balls while I watched. When he missed everyone applauded, I had just seen the end of a 350 ball run.

In 1964 Cranfield came in second to Luther Lassiter in the World Championship tournament and was allowed to challenge the winner fo the title. They played a 1200 point match (3 days) that was televised in the New York City area. Cranfield won easily with a display of great playing, he had 4 runs over 100 on his way to 1200. To make the telecast even better Willie Mosconi provided the color and offered clear explainations of the why as well as the what was happening.

As far as I know there are no films of Cranfield playing. If you know of any I would love to see them. I have a few more stories if you would like but some of them are not quite believable.

Hope you liked these.

Peter Harth
Click to expand...

I'd like to hear any more Babe stories. You should put this thread over in the straight pool subforum.

As for videos, as the other poster said there is some of him playing 9 ball or 7 ball with the other legends. I probably have it recorded if you need a copy.
 
I'm reading his book on straight pool. It's interesting to read his advice on how to shoot certain shots and how to clear a rack. In the book, he does tell a couple of small stories about playing pool with different people, but he's always relating it back to pool.
 
Photos of Babe

For those of you that are interested in photos of the Babe go to www.newdeco.com then click on Billiard Photos then select page 3 go to pic # 85.......then to page 5 pic # 145..i have purchased from this guy and is nice to deal with...enjoy:)
 
nail said:
This is for anyone in this forum (especially straight pool players) who would like to know more about the history of one of the true grand masters of straight pool, Babe Cranfield, told by one of his closest friends and student, Larry Moy (co-author of the Straight Pool Bible). The article is in the August issue of Pool & Billiard Magazine. It is the first part of a two part story. If you like, please post a reply to this message and tell me what you think of the article so far. If you have any stories about Babe, I would love to hear about them. Thanks.

nail
Click to expand...
Sounds great. I would like to see a copy. Thanks.

Peter Harth
 
harthpg said:
Sounds great. I would like to see a copy. Thanks.

Peter Harth
Click to expand...

In case you didn't notice, the original post was from 2005. Just so you know.
 
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