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Bartender kept baseball reference book in his head

By Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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CLEARWATER — His co-workers called him a fountain of useless information. Bartender Herb Crowley had a seemingly endless command of trivia, especially about baseball. He kept the drinks flowing for members of the Philadelphia Phillies organization who flocked each spring to Joe Dugan's, a restaurant off Gulf-to-Bay where Mr. Crowley tended bar from the late 1980s until several years ago. He kept a baseball almanac by the bar to settle disputes, but often didn't need it.

"He had a reference book in his head," said Granville Sorenson, 72, sitting at the bar at Azara's Sports Bar, a few seats down from where Mr. Crowley collapsed and died late Tuesday. Herbert Crowley was 53.

A Long Island, N.Y., native, Mr. Crowley left college in 1980 for Florida with another bartender. He rented the same apartment, a home he jokingly called his "time capsule," for 22 years at the Royal Breeze Apartments.

"His housecleaning technique left a lot to be desired," said Linda Cruz, 45, who modified Mr. Crowley's bachelor ways. He reminded her of Barney Rubble of The Flintstones.

"He always had some quirky little sarcastic catchphrase," said Bob Krajnik, 55, who tended bar alongside Mr. Crowley. They called the phrases "Herbisms."

A customer's check was a "certificate of indebtedness." When a thickly built man chewed tobacco at the bar, Mr. Crowley asked him not to "expectorate."

"The words he would use, you'd have to say, 'Am I going to have to Google that, Herb?' " said longtime friend Brian Bullock. The witticisms punctuated his interactions, which for a bartender must remain brief. Mr. Crowley prided himself on having mastered "the 30-second conversation," a rundown that somehow covered the bases.

"You can train a chimp to turn over a drink, but you need a little something extra in the delivery," said Bob Esposito, Mr. Crowley's boss at the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa, where he worked for several months before going to the Palm Pavilion. Mr. Crowley had just finished his shift at the Palm Pavilion Grill & Bar when he met Cruz at Azara's before midnight on Tuesday. He ordered a bottle of Miller Lite and a Grand Marnier and chatted about his shift at the Palm.

Moments later, he fell over, unconscious. Paramedics took him to Mease Countryside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"Everybody is very, very taken aback," said JoAnn Wechter of Brady's Backyard BBQ, where Mr. Crowley worked Mondays. She consoles herself with the thought that Herb would have wanted to go out this way.

"He was with the woman he loved," she said, "doing what we love to do in this business after we get off work — having a tall, cold beer."

Andrew Meacham can be reached at amecam@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2431.