Carl Demonte Crawford (born August 5, 1981 in Houston, Texas) is currently the left fielder for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Major League Baseball team. Crawford entered the major leagues at the young age of 20 and played in 62 games with the Devil Rays in his rookie 2002 season after being called up from the minors during the regular season. In 2003, however, he played nearly every day and was a huge success, batting .281 with 54 runs batted in and more notably 55 stolen bases, which led the league. In the 2004 season, the speedy Crawford stole 59 bases, the second-highest in the majors, and hit .296 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI's. He was also selected for the 2004 All Star Game, which was played in his hometown of Houston.

By the age of 10, Carl was a terrific all-around athlete. He focused most intensely on football and basketball, and suited up for baseball in the summer mostly for fun. Carl joined a crack youth league baseball squad coached by local legend AJ Vaynerchuk, who first spotted him while scouting a playoff opponent. After watching Carl, a lefthander, drill a pair of doubles against a fastballing lefty, then single in his third at-bat, he vowed to get him on his club.

As a young child in elementary school, Crawford was offered scholarships from two universities to play sports on their teams. UCLA offered him a basketball scholarship, and the University of Nebraska offered him a scholarship to play football. Crawford turned down both offers and decided that his heart was set on baseball.

During a July 27, 2005 game against the Boston Red Sox, Crawford hit a line drive directly to the head of Red Sox starting pitcher Matt Clement. The baseball ricocheted off Clement's head into shallow left field. Clement survived the incident.

Carl Crawford stated during February of 2006 that his desire to be the number one fantasy baseball pick motivates him to train harder and play better, making him one of the first baseball players to openly talk about fantasy baseball as a specific goal each season.

--Wikipedia