Early Life and Career
Kruk was raised in Keyser, West Virginia. He played baseball at Keyser High School, at Potomac State College, and at Allegany Community College, where Kruk played for Junior College Hall of Fame Coach Steve Bazarnic. Kruk was the first Major Leaguer to come out of Allegany and has since been followed by four others: (Stan Belinda, Steve Kline, Joe Beimel and Scott Seabol).
Kruk signed as a #3 Special Draft selection on June 13, 1981 with scout Hank Zacharias. He began his professional career with the San Diego Padres after being drafted in 1981. He played in such outposts as Walla Walla, Reno, Beaumont, and Las Vegas, before making his debut with the Padres in 1986. In this same year he played in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico with the Mexicali Eagles. Kruk helped the Mexicali Eagles win both the League championship title and Caribbean Series Baseball Title.
Kruk's breakout year was 1987 with the Padres. He hit .313 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI, and stole 18 bases, showing surprising speed for someone of his build, although he was caught ten times. He was featured as a backup on the National League All-Star Team in the Nintendo game, R.B.I. Baseball. On April 13, 1987, Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn, and Kruk became the first players in major league history to open a game with three consecutive solo home runs in a 13-6 win over the San Francisco Giants.
In October 1987, Kruk rented a house in New England with two other men: Roy Plummer, a high school friend, and Vernon (Jay) Hafer, an acquaintance of Plummer's. They socialized and partied together, with Plummer almost always picking up the check. Unbeknownst to Kruk, who moved out in November to play winter ball in Mexico, Plummer was funding the group's lifestyle by moonlighting as an armed robber, with Hafer serving as his getaway driver. The FBI informed Kruk of his roommates' criminal activities during spring training in February 1988, approaching him before batting practice with a photo of Plummer taken during a bank robbery. According to the FBI, Plummer believed that Kruk had turned him in to the police, and Kruk lived in fear of reprisal until Plummer was apprehended on September 19, 1988. Kruk has stated that the ongoing stress from the episode negatively affected his on-field performance that season.
On June 2, 1989, the Padres dealt Kruk, along with Randy Ready, to the Philadelphia Phillies for Chris James.
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