John Cerutti
John Joseph Cerutti (
April 28 1960 -
October 3 2004) was an
American left-handed
pitcher in
Major League Baseball, and later a
broadcaster for the
Toronto Blue Jays.
Born in
Albany, New York, Cerutti was selected in the first round of the amateur draft by the Blue Jays in
1981 with the 21st overall pick out of
Amherst College. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Economics. He played 7 seasons in the major leagues with the Blue Jays (
1985-
1990) and
Detroit Tigers (
1991).
On June 7, 1989, Cerutti recorded the first Blue Jays win in the
Skydome, their new stadium.
After his playing career, he went into
broadcasting and started doing Blue Jays games alongside
Brian Williams on
CBC before becoming a TV analyst for the team's new flagship station,
Rogers Sportsnet.
Cerutti was supposed to broadcast the last game of the 2004 season for the Blue Jays but missed an 11:00 AM meeting. The production staff began to worry and started calling him. After numerous attempts, the police had to be brought in to break open the door of his
Toronto hotel room. He was found without any vital signs. His death at age 44 was officially declared to be of natural causes, apparently due to heart
arrhythmia.
*
Historic Baseball
