Tomás de la Cruz Rivero

He was a right-handed Major League pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1944. The 32-year-old rookie player was a native of Marianao, Cuba, played from 1934 to 1947 in the Cuban League winter season and from 1945 to 1948 in the Mexican League. In 1960, he was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame.

De la Cruz is one of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during World War II. He was a very effective pitcher for the Reds in his only season in the Major Leagues. His Major League debut was on April 20, 1944, which was the third game on the calendar. He was the starting pitcher and winning pitcher in a game they won 2-1 over the Chicago Cubs at Crosley Field.

On September 16, de la Cruz pitched a one-hit ball, the first ever pitched in the Major Leagues by a Latin American against the pitchers of the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning two to one. [2]
He was a versatile pitcher for Cincinnati, who completed nine of 20 starts and appeared 14 times in relief. As a reliever he finished ten games and saved another. For the year he was 9-9 with a 3.25 earned run average, and finished in the top ten of the league in four important pitcher categories, including "whip" (1.124). He was also a good outfielder, committing only one error all season.
During the winter, de la Cruz was called to U.S. military service, but he enlisted in the Cuban army. With reports that they would not be allowed to return to the United States until after the war, he decided to play in the Mexican League. [3] Pitching for Mexico, de la Cruz went 17-11 with a 2.26 earned run average. He continued playing in the Mexican league during 1945-48 and had a record of 40-26 with a 2.60 earned run average. [4] Because the Major Leagues designated the Mexican League as an "outlaw league," he was suspended for five years after returning to organized baseball. [5]
In his native Cuba, de la Cruz played in the winter Cuban League from 1934/35 to 1946/47, with a record of 71-78. [6] In 1947, the Cuban League agreed to affiliate with U.S. organized baseball, leaving de la Cruz and many other Cubans banned players ineligible to return to the Cuban League. De la Cruz was the leader of the players' union (National Association of Cuban Professional Ballplayers) and organized an alternative league, the National League (or Players Federation League) in which banned players could compete. Although the quality of play was high, the league was a financial failure and lasted only one winter of 1947/48. [7]
De la Cruz died at the age of 46 in Havana, Cuba.