Héctor Cruz (baseball)
Héctor Cruz | |
---|---|
Outfielder / Third baseman | |
Born: Arroyo, Puerto Rico | April 2, 1953|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
Professional debut | |
MLB: August 11, 1973, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
NPB: 1983, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
Last appearance | |
MLB: July 15, 1982, for the Chicago Cubs | |
NPB: 1983, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .225 |
Home runs | 39 |
Runs batted in | 200 |
Teams | |
Template:Spanish name 2 Héctor Louis Cruz Dilan (born April 2, 1953) is a former outfielder and third baseman in Major League Baseball. Listed at 5' 11", 170 lb., he batted and threw right-handed.
Career
Born in Arroyo, Cruz came from a distinguished baseball family of Puerto Rico. He is the younger brother of former major leaguers José and Tommy Cruz, while his nephew José Jr. also played in the majors.
Cruz played in the Cardinals minor league system from 1970 through 1973. He debuted with the big team in September 1973, but was demoted to the minors again the following year. He returned to the Cardinals in 1975, playing for them three seasons before joining the Chicago Cubs (1978), San Francisco Giants (1978–1979) and Cincinnati Reds (1979–1980), and in second stint with the Cubs (1981-1982).
In 1975 Cruz was named by The Sporting News as the Minor League Player of the Year, after hitting 29 home runs and 116 runs batted in for the Tulsa Oilers of the American Association.
In 1976, his first regular season with the Cardinals, Cruz topped the National League rookies with 13 homers and 71 RBIs, but also led the league third basemen with 26 errors. Then he switched to outfield, although he did not play regularly for the rest of his career.
In a nine-season career, Cruz was a .225 hitter with 39 home runs and 200 RBIs in 624 games appearances. After that, he played in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants in 1983.
Following his playing retirement, he worked for the United States Postal Service as a mail carrier on the West Side of Chicago.
In 2007, Cruz gained induction into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its 11th Class.
See also
Sources
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Japanese Baseball Daily
- Retrosheet
- Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame – 2007 Inductees (Spanish)
- 1953 births
- Living people
- American Association (20th century) MVP Award winners
- Arkansas Travelers players
- Caribbean Series players
- Cedar Rapids Cardinals players
- Chicago Cubs players
- Cincinnati Reds players
- Iowa Cubs players
- Major League Baseball outfielders
- Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico
- Major League Baseball third basemen
- Modesto Reds players
- Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders
- People from Arroyo, Puerto Rico
- Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Japan
- St. Louis Cardinals players
- San Francisco Giants players
- Yomiuri Giants players