De la Cruz, Tommy

Tommy de la Cruz was born on September 18, 1911 (according to other sources - 1914) in the town of Marianao, now one of the districts of Havana. While studying at school, he played for the Cartels amateur team, and then moved to Central Hershey, the club of the Cuban Amateur League. In 1932, together with the team, Tommy became the winner of the championship. He himself won eight victories. A year later, de la Cruz played for the semi-professional team of the Havana Electric Company ^[1] .

In professional baseball, Tommy made his debut in the 1934/35 season as part of the Marianao team. In his first season, he became the leader of the league in the number of innings played and full games, scoring five wins with four defeats. He also had a good 1935/36 championship. De la Cruz's successful game attracted the attention of scout Joe Cumbria. Tommy signed a contract with the Albany Senators AA League club and left for the United States ^[1] .

The debut in North America was also successful, despite the weak performance of the team. Tommy played in fifty games, scoring six wins with ten defeats. Over the next few years, he moved from one team to another several times. He spent the 1937 season with the Jersey City Giants , where his coaches used him as a reliever , releasing him only four times in the starting lineup. Then de la Cruz joined the team from Springfield. In 1940, he won eighteen victories in the championship games ^[1] .

In 1943, de la Cruz joined the Cincinnati Reds and began playing in the International League for the Syracuse Chiefs . Tommy scored twenty-one victories in the championship, finishing it with a second league score of ERA 1.99. Thanks to the successful performance, as well as due to the departure of a number of Reds players in military service, in the spring of 1944 Tommy was in the main team of the Major League Baseball ^[1] .

Tommy made his debut in Major League Baseball on April 20, 1944 and played a full game against the Chicago Cubs , which ended in a 2-1 victory. According to the results of the season, which became his only one in the league, de la Cruz won nine victories with nine defeats and entered the top ten league pitchers in several statistical categories - BB / 9, H / 9, K / BB . In September 1944, he left the team. Among the reasons at different times were called the black color of Tommy’s skin, a draft in the army and a generous offer from the owner of the Mexican League Jorge Pascel ^[1] .

In Mexico, Tommy played from 1945 to 1948. He quickly became one of the most popular players in the league, was friends with Pascel, who at the end of 1945 paid de la Cruz treatment and recovery from a foot injury. His career was hampered by a decision by Major League baseball leaders to disqualify American players who signed contracts with Mexican clubs. Tommy himself did not plan to return to the United States, but Pascel decided to hold two different championships - with and without disqualified baseball players. The idea was a failure. Then Major League Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler announced a ban on players with contracts in Mexico to play in the Cuban Winter League. This led to the emergence of two tournaments in Cuba, the level of play in which was lower. De la Cruz was one of the leaders of the “Union of Disqualified Players”. Without entering the field due to a hand injury, he became one of the organizers of the new tournament, but the league quickly broke up due to disagreements over the payment of bonuses to individual players ^[1] .

After an unsuccessful 1948 season, Tommy finally returned to Cuba. He won a lottery of 125 thousand dollars, for which he bought a house in the center of Havana. In the future, he lived on the income from renting out apartments, having no relation to baseball. September 6, 1958 Tommy de la Cruz died as a result of a heart attack ^[1] .

• Profile on the website of Major League Baseball
• Performance statistics at baseball-reference.com (eng.)