CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Now playing third base, a grandpa.
Todd Cruz won't be called that because he's 39 years old.
He'll be called it because, well, he's a grandfather.
"Pretty nice, huh?" the former Oriole said yesterday. "Something special."
Cruz has three children -- ages 19, 16 and 12 -- and an 8-month-old grandson, Thaddeus Jr.
So what if he hasn't played since 1985?
He's a replacement god.
Cruz, the third baseman on the Orioles' 1983 world championship team, boasts a resume the Philadelphia Phillies found impossible to ignore:
* Two years in the Senior League with the St. Petersburg Pelicans.
* Two years in Italy as a player-coach for Bologna.
* A year as a player-coach for an independent Single-A team in Salinas, Calif.
"I was in good shape then," Cruz said yesterday, staring down at his bulging stomach.
That was four years ago. Cruz, 6 feet and 175 pounds, said he's 15 pounds overweight. Of course, this all sort of happened in a hurry.
"If I would have decided a month ago, I would have been in better shape," Cruz said. "I was hesitant at first. It took a little time for me to make the call."
Cruz contacted the Phillies himself, figuring it would be only fitting to return to the team that made him its second draft pick 22 years ago.
It's not as if he's retired.
He said he plays semipro ball in the Hollywood Legends League with Darrell Evans, Rudy Law and Lee Lacy.
At the next locker, another former Oriole, Ken Dixon, grew curious.
"Lee Lacy played out there with you, man?" Dixon asked. "How's he doing?"
Scab talk.
Don't you just love it?
Dixon, in case you're wondering, declined to be interviewed. He said he wants to see how he's throwing first, as if he's Bob Gibson or something.
Cruz, on the other hand, wouldn't shut up.
"I'm happy to be here, seeing old friends," he said. "My best friend is God, but then comes baseball. Don't let my wife see that. Ah, she already knows it. She said, 'You've got to do this.' "
Cruz said he works as an instructor at a batting facility near his home in Colton, Calif., earning approximately $1,000 a month. The minimum salary for a replacement player is $115,000.
He said he "definitely went broke" during the '81 strike.
And he said he needs the money now.
Actually, Grandpa Todd might not be that bad an alternative for the Phillies at third base.
The leading candidate for the job among the striking major-leaguers is another former Oriole -- Craig Worthington.