Vintage Seattle Player O The Week goes to none other than “The Cruzer,”
Julio Cruz. He pl ayed second b
ag for the Mariners from 1977 through 1983 while stealing 40 bags six seasons in a row.
“The Cruzer” for sure. Ichiro Suzuki is just about to take this Mariners all-time leading base stealing record from him, however. Here is his 1980 Topps card and just look at that sweet vintage M’s pullover jersey with pitchfork logo.
Anyone see him play when he was still a Mariner
? Click on the image for full resolution.
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Julio Cruz, Seattle Mariners, 2nd Base, Topps, 1980.
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Julio Cruz was the bomb, y’all! Way better than 2nd basemen Jose Baez. For sure!
I absolutely saw him play! He was one of my childhood heroes.
I wasn’t the best hitter in the world when I was 9, but didn’t have to be. I would get walked 90% of the time and I was fast enough to always steal 2nd. I still remember leading off of 1st base, imagining myself as Julio Cruz…
When I was a kid playing baseball, I’d pretend I was Jose Canseco. Remember how Canseco would either strike out or hit a homerun? Well I was partially like him in that I’d strike out every time. I think that’s why I appreciate baseball so much… because I was so bad at it.
Cliffe
When I was a kid playing baseball, I’d pretend to be Dale Murphy. I adopted his batting stance and everything. Sadly, I didn’t adopt his actual skill at playing baseball.