John Kruk

John Martin Kruk (born February 9, 1961 in Charleston, West Virginia) is a former Major League Baseball player and current baseball analyst for ESPN.

Early life and career

Kruk was raised in Keyser, West Virginia. He played baseball at Keyser High School, at Potomac State College, and at Allegany Community College, where Kruk played for Junior College Hall of Fame Coach Steve Bazarnic. Kruk was the first Major Leaguer to come out of Allegany and has since been followed by four others: (Stan Belinda, Steve Kline, Joe Beimel and Scott Seabol).

Kruk signed as a #3 Special Draft selection on June 13, 1981 with scout Hank Zacharias.^[1] He began his professional career with the San Diego Padres after being drafted in 1981. He played in such outposts as Walla Walla, Reno, Beaumont, and Las Vegas, before making his debut with the Padres in 1986. In this same year he played in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico with the Mexicali Eagles. Kruk helped the Mexicali Eagles win both the League championship title and Caribbean Series Baseball Title.

Kruk's breakout year was 1987 with the Padres. He hit .313 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI, and stole 18 bases, showing surprising speed for someone of his build, although he was caught ten times. He was featured as a backup on the National League All-Star Team in the Nintendo game, R.B.I. Baseball. On April 13, 1987, Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn, and Kruk became the first players in major league history to open a game with three consecutive solo home runs in a 13-6 win over the San Francisco Giants.

In October 1987, Kruk rented a house in New England with two other men: Roy Plummer, a high school friend, and Vernon (Jay) Hafer, an acquaintance of Plummer's.^[2] They socialized and partied together, with Plummer almost always picking up the check.^[2] Unbeknownst to Kruk, who moved out in November to play winter ball in Mexico, Plummer was funding the group's lifestyle by moonlighting as an armed robber, with Hafer serving as his getaway driver.^[2] The FBI informed Kruk of his roommates' criminal activities during spring training in February 1988, approaching him before batting practice with a photo of Plummer taken during a bank robbery.^[2] According to the FBI, Plummer believed that Kruk had turned him in to the police, and Kruk lived in fear of reprisal until Plummer was apprehended on September 19, 1988.^[2] Kruk has claimed that the ongoing stress from the episode negatively affected his on-field performance that season.^[2]

On June 2, 1989, the Padres dealt Kruk, along with Randy Ready, to the Philadelphia Phillies for Chris James.

Philadelphia Phillies

The outfielder was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1989 season, and he blossomed into an All-Star as the team used him primarily at first base. Kruk played in the All-Star Game in 1991, 1992, and 1993. In his 1993 appearance at the Midsummer Classic, he had a memorable at bat when he flailed wildly at 98 mile per hour fastballs from Seattle Mariners pitcher Randy Johnson.

Kruk, who batted .316/.430/.475 in 1993, was also the leader of the Phillies' "Macho Row" which led the team to the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays; in the losing effort, Kruk batted .348/.500/.391 in the Series.

During spring training in 1994, Kruk was diagnosed with testicular cancer (ultimately resulting in the removal of one testicle) after an errant pickoff throw from teammate Mitch Williams hit him in the groin and broke his protective cup. Additionally, weight gain and the astroturf at Veterans Stadium exacerbated his knee problems. After the 1994 season, Kruk was granted free agency.

Chicago White Sox and retirement

Moving to the American League to serve as a designated hitter, Kruk signed with the Chicago White Sox, batting .308/.399/.390. However, he became disinterested with the game and told the Chicago Tribune he wanted to spend the rest of the year "eating at the Sizzler's buffet." On July 30, 1995, in a game at Baltimore's Camden Yards stadium, Kruk singled and retired standing on first base, taking himself out of the game never to play again.^[3] He is believed to be the only player to officially retire mid-game.

He finished his 10-year career with a .300 batting average and exactly 100 home runs.^[3] Kruk is one of only five major league baseball players to retire with exactly 100 home runs (as of 2009).^[4]

Post-baseball activities

A quotable character throughout his career, who later wrote a book called I Ain't an Athlete, Lady published in 1994, Kruk turned to broadcasting and commenting on the game. He has since worked for Major League Baseball on Fox, The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and local telecasts in Philadelphia. In 2004, he was hired by ESPN as an analyst on Baseball Tonight. He also writes a column called Chewing the Fat on ESPN.com.

Kruk also managed for a year within the Phillies organization. He led the Phillies' AA minor league team in Reading, Pennsylvania during the 2000 season prior to his broadcasting career.

Kruk went on to have a few acting roles in film and television, including the 1996 film The Fan, The Sandlot: Heading Home, American Pastime, and the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Sirens," where he voiced himself. Kruk also appeared in the Sawyer Brown music video "Round Here."

Kruk has been a resident of Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey.^[5]

He also appears in MLB on ESPN Commercials where Kruk himself is part of moments in baseball history; for example, an old briefcase belonging to Kruk buried in the infield dirt containing a rotten sandwich caused the bugs to attack Karl Ravech dressed up as Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain and distract him and allowed the Indians to win.

Kruk coached the National League team in the Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game in Anaheim, CA on July 12, 2010.

As an ESPN analyst, his eating habits are well documented, as described by Buck Showalter:

"Have you seen the rigors of ESPN at 3 o'clock in the morning when a guy blows a save on the west coast and you have to stick around for another two hours? And then try to go through the Taco Bell with John Kruk? That ain't fun. I mean, basically, we don't have any taco salad back there with John Kruk. Everybody should, at some point in their life, you wanna think about tough times, is being around him at 2 o'clock in the morning when he's hungry. That's not good."

Honors and awards

• In 2003—the final year of Veterans Stadium—Philadelphia Phillies fans voted Kruk as the first baseman on the Phillies All-Vet Team (1971–2003).
• On August 12, 2011, Kruk was inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.^[6][7]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube