[LansdowneSt]

Like most local Puerto Rican youths in his day, Henry grew up playing baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed the outfielder in 1970, but it was in the local amateur league where Cuban scout Corito Varona spotted the prospect. “A lot of scouts saw me and invited me to workouts. But Corito was the one who said, ‘I’ll sign you.’ I said, ‘OK, if you’ve got the money!’ It was $15,000. Cruz was called up after Juan Marichal [the Dodger! I forgot that - Ed.] retired and two Dodger outfielders got hurt. Although Cruz generally performed well in backup duty, the Dodgers were desperate for more power. In 1976, Cruz made the Opening Day roster. Overall, though, Henry was still relegated to spot duty and his hitting suffered. In 1977 he was claimed by the White Sox.

His last major-league appearance came on July 30, 1978 leaving him with career totals of 8 homers, 34 RBI, and a .229 average in 280 at-bats over 171 games. He drew 25 walks, lifting his on-base average to .291, and stole just one base while getting caught four times. “‘I didn’t have the chance I was looking for,’ Cruz said softly as he departed. ‘I had no chance at all with the Dodgers, I thought I’d have one here.’ He was the victim of a numbers game in the outfield. ‘Too many lefthanders here,’ he said. ‘I thought I did my job very well. But I just couldn’t do it enough. I need to work. When you sit on the bench, you get down.’”

In his later years, he enjoyed working with young ballplayers as a coach. “The Dodgers, they teach me how to play this game. The Dodger Way, that’s what I’ve been carrying with me all these years. I can develop the kids this way. Everything I own right now; I owe to baseball. And having the opportunity to teach the kids, what else could I ask for?”” ... Also in his retirement, he still wore sunglasses everywhere. - SABR

The before is the current CU Facepack one because it needs to be seen to be appreciated. Nearly all the pics out there have him in sunglasses. I found a pair that had him without them and used the White Sox one for the fg. It had a lot of green tint in the original that I tried to remove from the source file before making the fg but it still made it tough to get a decent complexion. Did the best I could with that.