Community Outreach Executive
The 2023 season is the 40th with the Houston Astros organization for Jose Cruz, who is one of the most popular figures in franchise history.
Jose has served in several roles with the Astros during his long, distinguished tenure. In his current role as community outreach executive, Jose makes public appearances on behalf of the club and serves as an ambassador for the organization.
Prior to his current role, he spent five seasons as a special assistant to the general manager (2010-14). Prior to that, he was a Major League coach for 13 seasons (1997-2009).
On the field, Jose spent 13 of his outstanding 18-year Major League playing career as an outfielder with the Astros (1975-87). In that span, he developed into an All-Star and one of the most popular players ever to wear the Astros uniform. Nicknamed “Cheo”, Jose held franchise records in games, at-bats, hits, total bases and triples at the time of his retirement. His 80 career triples remain the franchise record. In addition to his Astros career, Jose also played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1970-74) and the New York Yankees (1988).
Jose holds the distinction of being involved with the first nine of the Astros postseason appearances, three as a player (1980, ‘81 and ‘86) and six as a coach (1997-99, ‘01, ‘04-05). He was the Astros Team MVP four times and hit .300 six times in his career while stealing 317 bases.
Jose’s uniform No. 25 was retired by the Astros on Oct. 3, 1992, along with former teammate Mike Scott’s No. 33. They were the third and fourth numbers retired by the team. In 1999, Jose was selected by a panel of experts as one of the three outfielders on the franchise’s All-Astrodome team. In 2003, he was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. On August 3, 2019, Jose was inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame as a part of the inaugural class.
Jose and his wife, Zoraida, make their home in Houston and have four children: Jose Javier, Jose Cheito, Shakira and Jose Enrique. His son, Jose Jr., was the first-round selection (third player overall) of the Seattle Mariners in the 1995 June free agent draft. Jose Jr. graduated from Bellaire (TX) High School and attended Rice University, where he currently serves as the Owls Head Coach. As a high school player, he led Bellaire to the number one national ranking by USA Today and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award while at Rice. Jose Enrique also excelled on the baseball diamond, helping to lead Rice University to a national championship in 2003 before being drafted by the New York Yankees in the 13th round of the 2003 June Draft.