If you collected baseball cards in the late 1990s, Jose Cruz Jr. was a name you knew. He was one of those "Can't Miss" prospects who was going to be the next great player behind Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez on the Mariners. He hit 12 home runs in roughly 50 games for Mariners before they traded him to the Blue Jays where he continued to hit home runs. Jose Cruz Jr. played right around 100 games his first year and ended the season with 26 dingers.
The future was bright.
Unfortunately, the next two seasons were down years. When Jose finally got healthy in 2000, he did manage to hit more than 30 home runs, but also only hit .242. Jose Cruz Jr. actually had a pretty solid career. He played for 12 seasons, hit 200 home runs and 250 doubles, and collected more than 1,000 hits. Those numbers are not very flashy, so his baseball cards are currently not worth much money, which is fine.
I still liked Jose Cruz Jr. and have a few of his cards hanging around the collection
Today: 2000 Fleer Showcase FreshINK Jose Cruz Jr. Autograph
I got an autograph of his out of a 25-cent box at one of the first shows I went to after I returned to card collecting. It's not something that I really care about anymore, but it does remind me of that specific time period.
ReplyDeleteA quarter box? I knew they had lost their value, but that seems harsh.
DeleteAlways enjoy seeing Cruz pop up on a blog post. It reminds me of collecting back in the late 90's. I remember collectors going wild over his 97 Bowman Chrome card. And then when I returned to collecting in the late 2000's... I remember Mario over at Wax Heaven always writing about him.
ReplyDeleteI think Mario liked this card when I posted it on Twitter Monday Morning.
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