Nelson Cruz

Nelson Ramón Cruz Martínez Jr. (born July 1, 1980) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball designated hitter and right fielder.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals, and San Diego Padres.

Cruz is a seven-time MLB All-Star.

Known for his power hitting, he has won four Silver Slugger Awards and two Edgar Martínez Awards.

Cruz was born on July 1, 1980, in Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Dominican Republic.

His father, Nelson Cruz Sr., also played professional baseball in the Dominican Republic.

Both his parents are successful professors and they raised Cruz and his two sisters, Nelsy and Olga, in a well-to-do Dominican neighborhood.

Growing up, Cruz's passion was for basketball, not baseball.

His idol was Michael Jordan and as a teenager Cruz played for the Dominican Republic Junior National Basketball Team.

He attended the high school where his father taught history.

In addition to playing sports, Cruz worked as a mechanic's helper with his uncle at a tractor factory.

He also shined shoes and learned how to repair them.

After signing with the New York Mets organization in 1998, Cruz played his first major league game in 2005 with the Milwaukee Brewers.

On February 17, 1998, Cruz signed with the New York Mets organization as a non-drafted free agent.

Cruz played for three years in the Dominican Summer League.

On August 30, 2000, the Mets traded Cruz to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for shortstop Jorge Velandia, as starting shortstop Rey Ordóñez was out with a broken arm, and Melvin Mora, Mike Bordick, and Kurt Abbott proved unable to fill in.

Cruz spent the 2001 season with the AZL Athletics, slashing .250/.283/.409 with 3 home runs and 16 RBI in 23 games.

The following season, he played for the Low-A Vancouver Canadians, batting .276/.316/.397 with 4 home runs and 25 RBI.

In 2003, Cruz spent the year in Single-A with the Kane County Cougars and hit .238/.292/.430 career-highs in home runs (20) and RBI (85).

Cruz split the 2004 season between the High-A Modesto A's, Double-A Midland RockHounds, and Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and set new career-highs in home runs (26) and RBI (100) while batting .326/.390/.562 in 137 games between the three teams.

On December 16, 2004, Cruz was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for infielder Keith Ginter.

Cruz was assigned to the Double-A Huntsville Stars to begin the 2005 season before receiving a promotion to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.

Cruz made his major league debut with the Brewers on September 17, 2005, as a late inning defensive replacement at right field wearing #8 against the Houston Astros.

He had one hit in five at-bats for the Brewers in limited action.

His only hit was a double off Aaron Harang of the Cincinnati Reds on September 28.

Cruz was assigned to Nashville to begin the 2006 season and hit .302/.378/.528 in 102 games with the team.

On July 28, 2006, the Brewers sent Cruz and outfielder Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Laynce Nix, Kevin Mench, Francisco Cordero and minor league pitcher Julian Cordero.

Cruz would wear #17 during his time with Texas.

He hit his first career home run on July 31 against Willie Eyre of the Twins.

On August 16, Cruz hit the first grand slam of his career off of Kevin Gregg of the Angels.

On September 4, 2006, against the Athletics, he hit an inside-the-park home run in which his bat broke on impact.

In spring training for the 2007 season, Cruz got off to a rough start, but finished strong by hitting three home runs in the final week, including a walk-off home run in the final game of spring training.

He had a breakthrough season in 2009, hitting 33 home runs for the Texas Rangers.

Cruz played for the Rangers in the World Series in 2010 and 2011 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2011 American League Championship Series.

Cruz hit 346 home runs during the 2010s, which was the highest number of home runs hit by any player in that decade.

In September 2012, he donated $20,000 to help buy a firetruck for Las Matas de Santa Cruz, enlisting AMR's help in also donating two ambulances.

On August 5, 2013, Cruz was suspended for 50 games by MLB for his involvement in the Biogenesis baseball scandal.

In 2014, he led the major leagues with 40 home runs as a member of the Baltimore Orioles.

He led the American League (AL) with 119 RBI in 2017 while playing for the Seattle Mariners.

In 2020, based on his work in the community, Cruz was selected as the Marvin Miller Man of the Year and the ESPYs Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award winner, and in 2021, he received the Roberto Clemente Award.