Batting average .220 Role Baseball player Home runs 34 Height 1.83 m | Runs batted in 154 Weight 79 kg Name Todd Cruz | |
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Died September 2, 2008, Bullhead City, Arizona, United States | ||
Rip todd cruz by brittney
Todd Ruben Cruz (November 23, 1955 – September 2, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles between 1978 and 1984. He batted and threw right-handed.
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Bounced around the majors
Of Mexican American descent, he was born in Highland Park, Michigan in Metro Detroit and was raised in Mexicantown in Detroit. He attended Western High School in Detroit. He was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies out of Western High School in the second round (26th overall) of the MLB amateur entry draft in June, 1973, immediately signing a contract later that month. He finally made his major league debut five years later, playing only three September games with the Phillies . With Larry Bowa established as the everyday shortstop, Cruz was traded to the Royals for Doug Bird on April 3, 1979, three days before the start of a new season.
The Royals, with a glut of outfielders, a need for a starting first baseman and having decided on U.L. Washington as its regular shortstop, dealt Cruz, along with Al Cowens and right-handed pitcher Craig Eaton, to the Angels for Willie Aikens and Rance Mulliniks on December 6, 1979. A midseason swap for right-handed pitcher Randy Scarbery on June 12, 1980 sent Cruz to the White Sox, where he became the starting shortstop. Unfortunately, a back injury sidelined him for the entire 1981 season.
The White Sox's search for a reliable batter capable of hitting for average resulted in him being shipped along with Jim Essian and Rod Allen to the Mariners for Tom Paciorek on December 11, 1981. The 1982 campaign was Cruz's most productive offensively as he established career highs with 57 runs batted in (RBI), 44 runs scored, 113 hits and 16 home runs. He was supplanted as the regular shortstop by rookie Spike Owen during the following year.
Success with the Orioles
In his first game after the Orioles purchased his contract on June 30, 1983, he drove in six runs with a three-run homer and a bases-loaded double, leading the Birds to a victory in the city where he grew up. His biggest contribution was on defense. Manager Joe Altobelli explained Cruz's importance to the ballclub:
Shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. praised him even further:
Cruz, along with teammates at the bottom of the batting order Rick Dempsey and Rich Dauer, were famously nicknamed "The Three Stooges." Cruz was "Curly" while Dempsey and Dauer were "Moe" and "Larry" respectively. After winning the American League Pennant three games to one over a former team of Cruz's, the White Sox, the Orioles captured the 1983 World Series Championship in five games over his original ballclub, the Phillies.
His MLB career came to an end on March 29, 1985 when he was released by the Orioles in spring training. Orioles teammate Gary Roenicke said of Cruz's two seasons in Baltimore, "Even though he'd played for many other teams, he always thought of himself as an Oriole. He had an outgoing personality ... and he kept everybody loose."
Death
Cruz died on September 2, 2008 at age 52 while swimming in the pool at the apartment complex where he lived in Bullhead City, Arizona. The efforts of bystanders and responding paramedics to revive the former major league ballplayer were unsuccessful. The cause of death was heart attack.