Why this card is awesome: Because I like how Cruz and most of the crowd are tracking the flight of a fly ball. I like to imagine it's a game-winning homer.
Cool stat: Perhaps it was one of his 6 walk-off homers. By the way, Cruz pinch-hit in this game on April 19th, 1974. Perhaps he was distracted, though, since his son (major leaguer Jose Cruz Jr.) was born that day.
4 comments:
Jose Cruz Sr. seemed to play forever in the big leagues. Too bad his son didn't live up to the hype.
Hey, Junior was a 30-30 guy! He was hardly a bust.
I like Jose Cruz, Jr. because he has a big, slow slugger's numbers but with a bunch of steals. I also like him because he wears his socks high and with the stirrups showing in homage to his father, whose style of sock is modeled quite well in this card.
The 4/19/74 game showed how important the sale (the Cardinals got nothing for Jose) to Houston was for Jose. The 1974 Cardinal outfield included newcomer Bake McBride, who took Jose's playing time, and he wasn't going to push Lou Brock or Reggie Smith for time, either. Ken Reitz was given a shot at third and Joe Torre was moved to first, so there was nowhere for Jose to go but the 'Dome. He was always loved by Cardinal fans, though.
For having so many stats on the back of the card, doesnt the bottom of it seem so bare? So much pale orange... surely there was ONE blurb they could've written about him.
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