Warren Cromartie

Leroy played quarterback at Florida A&M College, and led his team to Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships in 1944 and 1945.

Having also played basketball and baseball in high school, he left FAMC to play semi-pro baseball with the Miami Giants, which led to a brief stint as a second baseman with the Cincinnati/Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro leagues.

After that, Leroy returned to FAMC and led the Rattlers to another SIAC championship in 1947 and a national championship in 1950.

Warren Livingston Cromartie (born September 29, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player best remembered for his early career with the Montreal Expos.

He and fellow young outfielders Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson were the talk of Major League Baseball (MLB) when they came up together with the Expos in the late seventies.

Nicknamed "Cro" and "The Black Samurai" in Japan, he was very popular with the fans in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Upon graduation from Miami Jackson High School in 1971, Warren Cromartie was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the seventh round of that year's draft, but opted to instead attend Miami Dade College.

Following this, he was drafted by three other teams (the Minnesota Twins in the third round of the January 1972 secondary draft, the San Diego Padres in the first round of June 1972 secondary draft, and the Oakland Athletics in the January 1973 secondary draft) but did not sign with any of the clubs.

Finally, when the Expos selected him in the first round of the June 1973 secondary draft, he signed.

Cromartie batted .336 with 13 home runs, 61 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases in his first professional season (1974) with the Quebec Carnavals.

This performance earned him a September call-up to the major leagues all the way from double A. He went 3-for-17 with three walks during his short stint with the Expos.

He went into Spring training 1975 competing for the open right field job, but was sent to "Expoville," the Expos' minor league complex in Daytona Beach, for reassignment to the triple A Memphis Blues in late March.

After a disappointing 1975 season in Memphis, he rebounded nicely in 1976 to bat .337 for the American Association's Denver Bears, and receive a call up to the Expos in mid-August.

He spent the rest of the season pretty much platooning with Ellis Valentine in right field, batting .210 with two RBIs.

Both Cromartie and Valentine won starting jobs in Montreal's outfield out of Spring training, with Cromartie shifting to left field.

Joining them in the Expos' outfield would be 22-year-old center fielder Andre Dawson.

Their youth, speed and talent soon made them the talk of the baseball world.

Cromartie hit his first major league home run against the New York Mets' Nino Espinosa on July 2.

Usually batting either second or fifth in the Expos' line-up, he spent most of the season with a batting average over .300, but cooled off to .282 with five home runs and 50 RBIs by the end of the season.

Cromartie was considered something of a defensive liability his rookie season, and worked on his defense during the off season.

As a result, he led National League left fielders in many defensive categories in.

He, Dawson and Valentine each led their respective positions in outfield assists to give the Expos the unquestionable top defensive outfield in the major leagues.

With his bat, he got off to a slow start in 1978.

He ended April with just a .193 batting average and two RBIs.

From there, he batted .307 over the rest of the season to finish just below .300 (.297, which was tops on the team).

His first major league grand slam was a walk off against the Atlanta Braves on July 19.

After going 0-for-five in the season opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cromartie embarked upon a 19-game hitting streak, the longest of his career.

His hot start helped propel the Expos into their first real pennant race in franchise history.

The Expos battled the Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East throughout the season, with their lead in the division peaking at 6.5 games on July 2.

They would eventually win a franchise-best 95 games but still finished second to the World Series-winning Pirates by two games.

For his part, Cromartie batted .275 with eight home runs and a career-best 84 runs scored.

Cromartie had played some first base in the minor leagues, and was shifted there for the season after the Expos acquired outfielder Ron LeFlore from the Detroit Tigers at the Winter meetings.

He had difficulty fielding his new position, committing a league leading 14 errors at first; however, he had one of his best seasons with his bat.

He batted .288, and putting up career highs in home runs (14) and RBIs (70).

Perhaps the most memorable moment of Cromartie's 1980 season was a Fourth of July doubleheader with the New York Mets.

He committed two of five errors by the Expos in the sloppily played first game loss (the Mets also committed three).

After committing a third error in the second game, he also hit a two-run home run that carried the Expos to a 6–5 victory.

The Expos again found themselves in a pennant race in 1980 despite key injuries to LeFlore, Valentine, Larry Parrish and pitcher Bill Lee, among others (Cromartie was the only player on the team who managed to play a full 162 game schedule).

He won the 1989 Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award during his career playing baseball in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants.

Cromartie was the only child of Marjorie and Leroy Cromartie.