Like father, like sons: Charting the Crosby brothers' baseball paths

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Crosbys are, at their core, a baseball family.

When brothers Blake and Bobby Crosby were growing up, their father Ed was a scout for the Diamondbacks, so he often took them on scouting trips near their home in Long Beach, California. Their roles were clearly laid out. Blake borrowed a sheet of paper from Ed's typewriter and began writing scouting reports while Bobby held the radar gun.

Once a week, the Crosby brothers sat in the stands watching high school games with Ed, talking to other scouts and expanding their baseball knowledge. When they weren't at the ballpark, they played Wiffle ball in the backyard and discussed the game together. It was in these moments that their desire to work in baseball began.

"We both wanted to be just like our dad," Blake said.

Ed Crosby played 11 seasons, six in the majors, as an infielder with the Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Mariners, and Indians organizations. After he retired, he transitioned to scouting, spending time with the Orioles, Athletics, White Sox and Diamondbacks. He's a baseball lifer - "a junkie," Bobby said - yet he didn't force baseball on his kids growing up. So when his sons expressed interest in the sport, Ed delivered a simple message:

"He told us to pursue our own personal dreams," Bobby said, recalling the conversation this week. "I think that's one of the things Blake and I appreciated most about our dad. But we both knew from a young age that we wanted to work in baseball."

Bobby, now 40, is a recognizable name after playing eight seasons in the major leagues. He's beginning this season in a new role as the manager for the Stockton Ports, the Athletics' Single-A affiliate. Blake, 35, is the Toronto Blue Jays' national supervisor for amateur scouting and is now in his 10th season with the organization.

"It's been great for me to watch," Ed said. "They both just took to sports from a young age. I'm just so proud of them."

One of the boys' favorite childhood stories took place on a summer afternoon in 1994 at Cal State Fullerton when Bobby was 14 and Blake was 10. Ed was scheduled to scout Alex Rodriguez, a highly touted infielder from Miami's Westminster Christian High School who was destined to be a high selection in the upcoming MLB draft. Ed instructed his boys to watch Rodriguez's every move because "he did everything at an elite level."

Once the game started, Blake began taking notes alongside Ed and Bobby. Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

"We both looked over," Bobby said, "and asked him, 'You sure you know what you're doing, Dad? This guy stinks.'"

Bobby and Blake knew at a young age they were destined for different paths in baseball.

Though both had a passion for playing, their interests varied. Bobby starred in the infield at La Quinta High School in nearby Westminster, California, and committed to play at Long Beach State University. Blake, meanwhile, desired a career off the field. The idea of making trades intrigued him, and he considered the scouting process fascinating. He appeared destined to follow in his father's footsteps.

At Long Beach, Bobby quickly flashed skill both offensively and defensively. He hit at least .316 in all three seasons and was rated among his team's best defenders. He was selected No. 25 overall by the Athletics in the 2001 MLB Draft.

Bobby quickly rose through Oakland's minor-league system. He hit at least .295 in two seasons and established himself as one of the game's top prospects before earning a September call-up just before the end of the 2003 campaign. In his first full season in the big leagues, he slashed .239/.319/.426 with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs and was voted the 2004 American League Rookie of the Year.

"That's when people started to say, 'Hey, you could be something pretty good,'" Bobby said.

But the peak of his career also marked the beginning of its decline. A back injury sapped him of the ability that had made him one of the game's most promising players. He missed half the 2005 season and landed on the disabled list four times from 2005-06. Entering his prime at age 27, his body was betraying him.

"Injuries took a tax on me mentally and physically," Bobby said. "I couldn't do the things that I could before."

Bobby pressed on, but his hitting numbers were subpar. He didn't hit better than .237 in any subsequent season. By 2009, his final campaign with the A's, anxiety drained him. It kept him up some nights, and he said it was one of the hardest things he's ever gone through.

He signed with the Pirates in 2010, but most of his playing time came off the bench. He was dealt to the Diamondbacks in a five-player deal at the trade deadline that year, only to be granted his unconditional release in August. He resurfaced again in 2013 on a minor-league deal with the Brewers, but he was released in the spring after losing a camp battle to Scooter Gennett. He never played again.

"It beat me up mentally more than anything," Bobby said. "The (physical) stuff you can get over, but going from the top, winning and all that, to going to where you just aren't the same person or player people expect you to be, it's hard. I expected it out of myself. I just couldn't do it."

Back at home, Blake accepted an internship at the Urban Youth Academy working alongside former Angels major leaguer Darrell Miller. But it was cut short after the Athletics drafted him in the 42nd round of the 2010 MLB Draft. "They were super pumped for me," Blake said. His career spanned only one season, during which he hit .217 in 69 at-bats in rookie ball. But he planned to use it as a launching pad toward a scouting career.

"I was good enough to play college," Blake said. "I was good enough to play some minor-league ball. But I knew that my future was going to be off the field."

In the winter of 2010, the Blue Jays hired Alex Anthopoulos as their general manager. Blake read an article in which Anthopoulos was quoted saying he wanted to expand his scouting staff and have "more scouts than anybody in baseball." He viewed it as an opportunity. He reached out to Tony LaCava, a friend of his father who was an assistant GM with Toronto, for an interview. Soon after, the Blue Jays hired Blake as an area scout.

Bobby spent the early days of retirement separating himself from baseball. He vacationed with his then-wife Gina and three kids Tyler, Dylan, and Finn. He played "a ton of golf." For 33 years his life had revolved around baseball. Now, he wanted little to do with it. Adjusting proved difficult.

He quickly developed an urge to return to the sport. He opened the Bobby Crosby Baseball Academy in Orange County, California, to pass down the knowledge he'd picked up working with coaches such as Ron Washington and Mike Weathers. He refers to Washington as his greatest influence, citing his ability to relate to players.

The opportunity to influence young athletes fueled Bobby. The academy was open only for a few years, but he had found his next chapter in baseball. He wanted to coach.

"I know Bobby has been through some things in his life that make you grow up really fast," said Eric Chavez, Bobby's former teammate and currently a special assistant to Angels general manager Billy Eppler. "But as far as his history, paying attention to detail and being focused at his job, there are a lot of leadership qualities that Bobby has that would make him a really good coach."

Said Bobby: "I saw players responding in a way that I used to respond to Wash. As soon as I saw that, I realized I was making a pretty big impact on these kids."

He drew interest for coaching positions with multiple teams, including the Athletics and Blue Jays. He spoke with A's executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane. Bobby asked his father and Paul Cohen, his agent, for advice. But "you could tell he was an Oakland A at heart," LaCava said. Bobby started last season as a coach with Oakland's Double-A team in Midland, Texas. This season he'll manage in Stockton.

Bobby and Blake hope this is just the beginning of their baseball journeys.

Bobby aspires to become a major-league manager, while Blake has his eyes on a general manager's post. The thought of working together is "cool." They talk about the game and constantly exchange evaluations. As baseball has evolved, their conversations have mostly shifted toward analytics.

It's something they've both embraced. For Blake, it's meant a drastic change in his job description. When he first started, his work mostly pertained to the field. Now, with a high-performance staff and strong analytical group in Toronto, his focus has shifted toward getting inside a player's mind and delving deep into his baseball IQ.

"It doesn't negate the work that a scout does," Blake said. "It just enhances it."

Bobby often wonders what his career would have been without injuries. He's disappointed things didn't work out. But he's happy with his new life, devoting much of his time to managing and his family. And he credits the scouting trips and spontaneous hitting lessons with Ed for molding him into the coach he is today.

At times, Ed finds himself living through his sons. He recalls stories of things they did 30 years ago as if they happened yesterday. He considers them the best times of his life. And all three remain close despite living in different states, visiting each other during holidays or scouting trips like they did when Bobby and Blake were kids.

Ed hopes his boys advance even further in baseball than he did. But watching them get to this point, he said, has made his own journey a success.

"I'm really proud of my sons and so proud of their careers," Ed said. "You couldn't ask for a happier dad."

Robert Murray is a freelance baseball reporter.