About Last Night: Nelson Cruz, forever Mariner

Nelson Cruz might not have always been a Mariner, but in some sense, he has

Nelson Cruz played his first game as a Mariner on April 6, 2015, a 4-1 win against the Angels started by Félix Hernández at what was then known as Safeco Field. He didn’t record a hit that night, but he did record one of the Mariners’ two hits the next night, a single in a 2-0 loss where the Mariners failed to give James Paxton any run support. He was hitless in the series finale, and again in a 12-0 drubbing at the hands of the A’s in the series opener, leading to some grumbling from those who had disliked the signing in the first place: more money spent on another right-handed power hitter, a hallmark of the Jack Z era.

But the next night, Cruz hit his first home run as a Mariner, and it was an important one, giving the Mariners an eighth-inning lead in a game they’d eventually win. Matthew gave it spot #3 in his roundup of Cruz’s top 10 homers, noting the baserunners on board for Cruz’s three-run blast were Austin Jackson and Justin Ruggiano: “It really is perplexing how the 2015 team couldn’t crack the playoffs.” From that clutch home run, Cruz would go on to post a five-win season in his first year in a Mariners uniform, and in 2016, would carry the team close—so, so agonizingly close—to finally breaking their playoff drought, a moment summed up by Cruz’s most iconic moment as a Mariner, the thing he says is his favorite moment on the field:

(His favorite thing off the field: all those hugs with Kyle Seager, of course.)

It’s not quite to the level of The Double, or Big Dumper, but “Game 161” has a similar resonance for scores of Mariners fans. Now, Nelson Cruz will cement his place with this team for all time, as he’s opted to retire as a Mariner, having signed a one-day contract with the team—which conveniently, depending on how the Mariners count service time in these cases, could technically give him a fifth year as a Mariner, theoretically clearing him for entry to the Mariners Hall of Fame.

Cruz played longer in a Rangers uniform (2006-2013), but he played better in a Mariners one: 15.7 fWAR as a Mariner in half the time vs. 13.8 as a Ranger (shoutout to LL’s own version of Alex Mayer, Connor Donovan, for that bit of info). But Cruz doesn’t only have fond memories of his time on the field as a Mariner; he remembers, too, the way that Scott Servais came and visited him in the Dominican Republic one off-season, or the way that John Stanton supported his charities—a relationship that’s continued, as Stanton is donating 30 computers to a computer center that Cruz has established to offer training in trades like plumbing and electricity to people in his hometown of Las Matas de Santa Cruz as well as another 10 for his current home of Jarabacoa.

“I always identify myself with the Mariners, even though I played more years with the Rangers,” said Cruz. “When I was playing here I felt like this was the place I felt comfortable playing the game.”

There is something about Cruz that makes him uniquely suited to the underdog Mariners, as well. Late to baseball after giving up his first love, basketball, and never a top prospect, Cruz fought his way to the major leagues with the same work ethic that had him shining shoes, helping out at an auto repair shop, and working in his uncle’s tractor factory on his off-hours from school in the Dominican Republic. He then fought to stay in the bigs, even after being designated for assignment by the Rangers, working with Rangers hitting coordinator Mike Boulanger to open his stance so he would be in better position to hit the ball to all fields.

But, of all the teams he’s played with, it’s Seattle that is closest to Cruz’s heart, a city he initially enjoyed visiting as a player and then grew to love as a resident.

“I really love the weather,” Cruz said of Seattle. “It’s weird, but this is the weather that I like, so much that I moved—the house I have in the Dominican is in the mountains, so it rains every day. So it’s similar weather to what we have here.”

Cruz’s current place of residence is Jarabacoa, located in the mountainous rainforest in central Dominican Republic; it rains so often there that it’s known as the town of “eternal spring.”

“Eternal spring” is also a good way to describe Cruz, who continually beat back Father Time with his much-publicized nap regimen and intense dedication to working out, a determination to get back those years where he had a slow start to his professional career.

Unfortunately, as is the case with a great number of Seattle’s recently departed stars, that time ran out for Cruz in Seattle before he could help the team reach the playoffs. There was a bittersweet tone as he, on one hand, expressed gratitude that the Mariners would have him out on such a special day for a team with such high expectations (“they probably had many choices”), while also reflecting on his time with the team that fell short:

“I would die for the opportunity to play in the playoffs [in Seattle]...we got the chance many years—[we got] really close, you know, and the excitement for the fans and all that, it was incredible. But I think all the work they’ve put in through those years, it’s paid off these last few.”

That bittersweet feeling will resonate with any Mariners fan who has seen this team get so close so many times and fall short just as often, the only team whose fans have never gotten to experience a World Series firsthand.

With the endless roster churn that’s taken place under Jerry Dipoto, plus the current age of the team, plus the organization’s current general allergy to long-term free-agency deals, it will be a long time before Mariners fans see another Nelson Cruz, the man of eternal spring; it turns out, there aren’t that many to begin with. But the connection between Cruz and Mariners fans was strengthened yesterday, as he stood on the mound at T-Mobile Park and tossed a hilariously chaotic first pitch to fellow franchise icon/bittersweet connoisseur Félix Hernández, and it will be strengthened even more when the Mariners do the right thing and include him in the Mariners Hall of Fame.