Héctor Louis Cruz Dilan (born April 2, 1953) is a Puerto Rican former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. He played in

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 ...

(MLB) between 1973 and 1982 for four different teams, and played in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) in 1983. Listed at and , he batted and threw right-handed. He is also known by his

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

''Heity''.

Career

Born in Arroyo, Cruz came from a distinguished baseball family of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. He is the younger brother of former major leaguers

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

and

Tommy Cruz Cirilo "Tommy" Cruz Dilan (born February 15, 1951) is a Puerto Rican former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals () and Chicago White Sox (). Cruz batted and threw left-handed. He is the brother of Hécto ...

, while his nephew José Cruz 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. In 1975, Cruz won ''The Sporting News'' Minor League Player of the Year Award after hitting 29

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 116 RBIs for the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tulsa ...

of the American Association. He also appeared in 23 games for the Cardinals in 1975, staying with them for three seasons before joining the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

in 1978. He was dealt from the Cubs to the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

for

Lynn McGlothen Lynn Everett McGlothen (March 27, 1950 – August 14, 1984) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through . He played for the Boston Red Sox (1972–1973), St. Louis Cardi ...

at the

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

deadline on June 15, ."Ex-Salukis Wallis, Dwyer are traded," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Friday, June 16, 1978.
Retrieved January 18, 2023. He also played for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

(1979–1980) and finished his major league career back with the Cubs (1981–1982). In 1976, his first regular season with the Cardinals, Cruz topped the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

s 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 In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to dri ...

with 39 home runs and 200 RBIs in 624 games appearances. After that, he played in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

in 1983. Following his playing retirement, he worked for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

as a

mail carrier A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

on the West Side of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 2007, Cruz gained induction into the

Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame The Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame () was established in 1996 by Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, commissioner of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CPBC). (Spanish) It honors the most prominent baseball players who have made signi ...

as part of its 11th class.

References

External links

Japanese Baseball DailyCaribbean Baseball Hall of Fame – 2007 Inductees
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Hector 1953 births Living people American Association (1902–1997) MVP Award winners Arkansas Travelers 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 United States Postal Service people Yomiuri Giants players

Career

See also

References

External links