John Cruz has been ‘very, very good’ for baseball

Quoting Garrett Morris’ fictional baseball player, Chico Escuela, on Saturday Night Live skits in the 70s, “Baseball has been very, very good” to John Cruz.

As much as that is true, Cruz has been “very, very good” to baseball.

After 51 years, Cruz, 72, is retiring from the dugout and third base coach’s box. He coached his last game with the Hall F/S team, which sent him off with 20-6 victory Thursday at Bureau Valley. The Red Demons won their final 10 games, finishing 21-6.

If there’s been a baseball team in the Illinois Valley, Cruz likely has coached it.

He has made stops at IVCC, Princeton, L-P, Putnam County and the past four years as the F/S coach at Hall High School.

The funny thing is, he never called about one job. They always have called him.

Cruz, a 1969 graduate of DePue, got out of the service in 1972 and met Fred Kinkin, the director of the parks and baseball in Spring Valley, and started helping.

“It’s been an amazing run, really. I never thought I’d start doing this,” Cruz said. “Then when my kids started playing T-ball and stuff like that, of course you’ve got to be a dad that jumps in and start doing that. I liked it, but I never thought I’d continue doing all that. But it’s been a good run, and I met a lot of great people.”

He succeeded Kenny Wiltse as the president of the Spring Valley Little League.

He started up a Spring Valley American Legion team in the early 90s, which he calls “one of the best teams I ever had because I had kids from PC, L-P, Hall, Mendota, St. Bede. Lot of good kids, lot of good memories.”

He teamed up with Joel Gerdovich with the Illinois Valley Royals Legion team.

Then he got a call from IVCC coach Bob Koopman, which really set his baseball wheels in motion.

“That really changed everything because I really liked baseball a lot,” Cruz said. “When I got hooked up with Bob Koopman, that elevated everything. He’s still the best baseball man I’ve ever been around.”

Cruz followed “Koop” to Ashford University for two years and then on to Rockford University for two years, continuing serving as his right-hand man.

He returned to the Illinois Valley in 2009 to coach at Princeton High School. He led the Tigers to their most productive two-year run with an overall 46-15 record (.754), but was unceremoniously let go when PHS wanted to go “in another direction.”

He soon got a call from Dave Garcia to coach at Putnam County. He enjoyed his time with the Panthers, and after two years he decided to hang them up.

But not so fast. Matthew Glupczynski of L-P called and talked Cruz into coaching the freshmen team for him.

Again, it didn’t take long for the phone to ring again. He got a call while driving outside Spring Valley, but couldn’t quite make out who it was due to poor reception. When he finally made out that it was Hall coach Tom Keegan, “I said, ‘Oh no, here we go again.’ ”

Cruz, who lists former PC coach Ken Jenkins and former St. Bede coach John Bellino as coaches he’s looked up to, came aboard at Hall as F/S coach in 2020, which became a lost season because of COVID-19, but has three enjoyable seasons on the field since.

“When I told Tom I was going to retire I thanked him for the opportunity because this was always my dream school to coach at. All my kids went here and my two boys [Craig and Billy] played baseball here,” said Cruz, who has coached with Zach Zrust at Hall.

Hall threw the coach a curveball before Wednesday’s game at Kirby Field, recognizing him for all of his years in baseball.

“Tom came out with a megaphone phone and I said, ‘What’s going on.’ Tom said, ‘I’ll try to keep it short, but I have to acknowledge you.’ I was not prepared for all that,” Cruz said.

“We are very appreciative of the time and effort that coach Cruz has given to Hall over the past few years,” Keegan said. “He’s been in the game quite a few years at various high schools in the IV along with stops at IVCC and Rockford. He’s left a deep impression at each place he’s been.”

So, what will he say the next time the phone rings asking him to coach again?

“I can’t do it anymore. I’m going to watch my grandkids play. I have two of them playing baseball up in the suburbs,” he said.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com