October 23 – November 5, 1961

Dion

Runaround Sue

Carlos Ruiz was not always known as one of the top Catchers but realistically he should have been, as he was known as a favorite of Pitchers and was a solid defensive backstop.  The Panamanian’s defense at the plate propelled him to three straight seasons with MVP votes, something that a player who never had over 125 Hits should have had.

From the baseball rich nation of Cuba, Tony Gonzalez played nine of his eleven seasons in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies and while he was never named an All-Star or achieved a lot of fame outside of Eastern Pennsylvania he was a decent hitter who provided 1,110 Hits for the Phils.  Gonzalez would have three .300 seasons over his career.  He would also lead all the National League Centerfielders in Fielding Percentage twice.

Portly and popular, John Kruk was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies squad that went to the 1993 World Series.  Kruk was only with Philadelphia for five and a half seasons but in three of those (1991 to 1993) he went to the All-Star Game based primarily on his excellent batting eye.  In two of those seasons, he had a .300 Batting and .400 On Base Percentage season and he finished second in both 1992 & 1993 in OBP.  It is worth noting that Kruk received (though not many) MVP votes in 1991, 1992, and 1993.  Arguably he is the most known of the 1993 National League Pennant winners, with the possible dubious exception of Mitch Williams.

With the Phillies, Kruk smacked 62 Home Runs and batted .309 with 790 Hits.  The team inducted Kruk into their Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame in 2011.