Fernando Cruz credits mom's 'deal with God' to make him a Yankee
She spoke to the Big Man upstairs to get her son to the big leagues.
It took 16 years for New York Yankees ace reliever Fernando Cruz to get called up to the majors, two more to get the opportunity to play for his beloved Bronx Bombers — and three words from his mom to make it all happen.
Virginia Manon, a mother of four and devout Christian, always 'had this connection with the Lord,' and encouraged her son to continue his quest even when his minor-league career dragged into its second decade, Cruz, 35, told The Post from the dugout at Yankee Stadium ahead of Mother's Day.
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'She told me: 'Don't quit please. God has something really, really special for you,'' he recalled.
'It took me 16 years to get to the big leagues. And those 16 years, straight up, I was always thinking about those words. And here I am . . . living a dream every day.'
3 Fernando Cruz always remembered his mother Virginia Manon's words of advice as he worked to get to the big leagues.
Courtesy of Fernando Cruz
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Manon died of brain cancer in 2021 at the age of 69 — and tragically never got to see her son get called up to the major leagues a year later by the Cincinnati Reds, or traded to his favorite childhood team, the Yankees, in 2024.
Yet she predicted his future with uncanny accuracy.
'In 2019, she told me, 'Next year won't be your year, 2021 will be your year,' ' Cruz recalled.
The pandemic wiped out professional baseball in 2020, but Cruz starred in the Caribbean Series in 2021 and was signed to play in Mexico by the Mariachis de Guadalajara. He earned the most saves in team history, and suddenly MLB took notice.
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3 Cruz's mom even uncannily predicted when he would make his dream come true, he said.
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'That's when Cincinnati and other teams became interested in me,' he said. He wound up making his rookie debut in the majors at the ripe old age of 32.
'I think she made a deal with God. Like, 'Alright, put my guys in the best position possible and take me with you.' Because everything took place incredibly after she passed,' he continued.
Manon worked just as hard to fulfill her own dreams. A native of the Dominican Republic, she went to Puerto Rico illegally. She met Cruz's dad and earned a degree in accounting while working odd jobs in bakeries and selling jewelry.
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Cruz learned to pitch by throwing against a wall in front of his house in Dorado, Puerto Rico.
'I imagined being in Yankee Stadium at the time,' he recalled.
He credits his father, who worked for the Puerto Rican government, for giving him the discipline it takes to be a Bronx Bomber — and his mom for fueling his obsession.
She would 'buy me anything that comes from the Yankees. I remember having all the hats all over my room.'
3 Cruz calls his wife, Omaley, the daughter of his former third base coach, 'the MVP.'
Courtesy of Fernando Cruz
Cruz was hanging out with his wife Omaley and their four children when he got the news he was being traded to the Yankees in phone calls with GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.
'We almost closed the Dave & Buster's,' he recalled. 'We started yelling, we started crying. We started jumping around.'
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Cruz even credits his mother for his successful marriage.
Omaley, the daughter of his third-base coach when he was 18, 'fell in love with my mom first,' he said.
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