Julio Luis Cruz (December 2, 1954 – February 22, 2022) was an American professional baseball

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 1977–1986.

Career

Cruz attended Redlands High School in Southern California, and earned all-league honors as a basketball point guard for Redlands. Cruz often said that he played basketball only to maintain his fitness, agility and speed for the baseball season. Although a lifetime .237 hitter with little power, Cruz had excellent speed. Six years in a row with the

, from 1978 through 1983, he stole over 40 bases each season and was the team's all-time leader in that statistic leading to his nickname "the Cruzer". His franchise record of 290 was surpassed by

Ichiro Suzuki , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years w ...

, whose two stolen bases in a game against the Padres on May 18, 2008, gave him a total of 292. Cruz was traded to the

on June 15, 1983, for fellow second baseman

Tony Bernazard Antonio Bernazard Garcia (born August 24, 1956) is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball player and former executive in the New York Mets organization. Bernazard served as an assistant to Mets general manager Omar Minaya before being dismis ...

. After the trade, the White Sox caught fire and finished the season with 99 wins and a divisional pennant. In what was his only postseason play in his career, Cruz went 4-of-12 (.333) and had two stolen bases in the

1983 American League Championship Series The 1983 American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup in Major League Baseball's 1983 postseason played between the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles from October 5 to 8. The Orioles won the series three games to one. A ...

, which they lost to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. Cruz was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame on September 15, 2004, in a pregame on field ceremony at

T-Mobile Park T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof ballpark in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home stadium of the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the w ...

, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He was a broadcaster for the Mariners.

Personal life and death

Cruz died on February 22, 2022, at the age of 67.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Julio 1954 births 2022 deaths Albuquerque Dukes players 20th-century American sportsmen Chicago White Sox players El Paso Diablos players Fresno Suns players Hawaii Islanders players Idaho Falls Angels players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball second basemen Minor league baseball managers Baseball players from Brooklyn Quad Cities Angels players Salinas Angels players Salt Lake City Gulls players Seattle Mariners announcers Seattle Mariners players