John Kruk is back with more great stories, like the time Tony Gwynn had him ‘arrested’ in Oregon
The former Phillies player shared another amazing anecdote with fellow broadcaster Tom McCarthy.
John Kruk (and the Phillies) are not even a month into the season, and he’s already getting hate mail — all the way from Portland, although Kruk’s not sure exactly which Portland it’s from.
“You should never slouch,” Kruk said. “Especially if you’re in Portland, Oregon … Anyone who’s like, ‘He’s always hated Portland,’ I don’t hate anything. I could give a darn about it, but I got a letter from a guy in Portland who said I slouch. He said I look like an 80-year-old … I wonder if it was Portland, Maine. I better go look again. Sorry, Oregon, I’ll clear it up later.”
In true Kruk fashion, the anecdote led to an even better story: his prank arrest in Oregon during rookie ball with the Walla Walla Padres — courtesy of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.
“Did I ever tell you I almost got arrested in Oregon?” Kruk said. “Rookie ball. I got arrested, handcuffed, put in the back of a cop car.”
“Was it mistaken identity?” play-by-play man Tom McCarthy joked.
“No, Tony Gwynn had a friend who was a cop out there, and he had me arrested,” Kruk said. “Scared the — I was out there like, ‘I know I had a few beers last night, what the hell did I end up doing?’ You have a lot of bad thoughts when you’re handcuffed in the back of a cop car … They never left the parking lot of the hotel. All I heard was Tony laughing and I thought, ‘That [expletive].’”
Kruk returned to the broadcast last week after taking a couple weeks off, and he’s already in peak form. Just last week he shared some curmudgeonly wisdom after the Phillies lost three straight, including two to the Mets. His musings are so famous that even Mets fan John Oliver made a montage of his funniest moments to include on Last Week Tonight in 2024.