1977 Topps Baseball #624 - Hector Cruz
- Hector Cruz somehow was third in NL Rookie of the Year voting even though he batted .228 (I guess the 17 HR impressed the voters). Cruz had a slightly better batting average in 1977, but his power numbers were way down. Hector was the starting 3B for the Cardinals during the 1976 season, but when the Cardinals got Ken Reitz back Cruz became an outfielder. Hector played five more seasons after 1977, but he was a backup player for the rest of his career.
- Hector wasn't happy with his playing time in June and suggested that if he couldn't play every day in St. Louis that he should be traded. At the time he was batting .293, but the Cardinals had a surplus of outfielders and he wasn't able to play as much as he would have liked.
- 1977 Stats: .236, 6 HR, 42 RBI in 118 games
- 1977 Highlights:
- Other card blogs: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980
For some reason, the thing that sticks out in my mind about this guy is watching the 1979 NLCS when he was with the Reds. Tony Kubek would always refer to him as "Heity" Cruz and at the time I was thinking what a strange name "Heidi" was for a man (I was 10).
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