Friday, July 3, 2020

1981 Topps Victor Cruz

The front: One of the happiest players in the set.

The back: Cruz was the Blue Jays' top rookie in 1978; rather than hanging on to him they traded him to Cleveland for Alfredo Griffin.
The player: After Cruz's excellent 1978 season he had a few decent seasons in the Cleveland, Texas and Pittsburgh bullpens. Overall in 187 games he went 18-23 with 37 saves and a 3.09 ERA.

The man: Cruz died at the age of 46 in 2004. Shawn, a commentor on Cruz's profile on the 1980 Topps Blog said "I talked to Sid Monge once at a minor league game and Monge said that Cruz had massive weight issues and 'Victor ate himself out of baseball and then ate himself to death'."

My collection: I have eight of his cards, from 1979 to 1982. I would be interested in trading for 1984 TCMA Oklahoma City 89ers #20.
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2 comments:

  1. ChrisJuly 3, 2020 at 4:38 PM

    I didn't know there was a Victor Cruz other than the Giants receiver. Very sad that a pro athlete can eat himself to death, there must have been some personal issues there.

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  2. Swing And A Pop-upJuly 3, 2020 at 6:46 PM

    I was always impressed that he had a winning record for the '78 Jays. Not too many did.

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