together with the Angels. However, during spring training in several bouts of "indifferent play" landed him in the middle of Angels manager Lefty Phillips' crosshairs. The trend continued into the regular season as Johnson was benched three times in May for indifferent play. Meanwhile, the relationship between Ruiz and Johnson also began to sour. Johnson would scream obscenities at Ruiz whenever they were near each other, and Ruiz had reportedly challenged Johnson to a fight on more than one occasion, regardless of the fact that Ruiz was much smaller. Tensions hit a climax when Johnson claimed that Ruiz pointed a gun at him while the two were in the clubhouse following a June 13 loss to the Washington Senators. Ruiz denied the claim but Angels GM Dick Walsh later admitted during Johnson's arbitration case over his suspension that the incident had indeed occurred. Shortly after the alleged incident, Ruiz was demoted to the Triple-A Salt Lake City Angels. The Angels would clean house after the season. Phillips and Walsh were both fired, Johnson was traded to the Cleveland Indians, and Ruiz was released. Shortly afterwards, Ruiz signed with the Kansas City Royals. Death Ruiz became a United States citizen on January 7, 1972, something which made him very proud. Early in the morning of February 9, just before he was to join his new team, the Royals, in spring training, Ruiz was killed when he drove his car into a sign pole while driving alone outside of San Diego. Alex Johnson attended the funeral. See also List of baseball players who died during their careers References External links Venezuelan Professional Baseball League statistics 1938 births 1972 deaths People from Santo Domingo, Cuba California Angels players Cincinnati Reds players Columbia Reds players Cuban emigrants to the United States Geneva Redlegs players Indianapolis Indians players Industriales de Valencia players Leones del Caracas players Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Navegantes del Magallanes players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Road incident deaths in California Salt Lake City Angels players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Tiburones de La Guaira players Visalia Redlegs players