Toronto.BlueJays.MLB.com

By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

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A former player and broadcaster, Cerutti is best remembered as a husband and a father of three children.

"It was a very difficult day. Not only did I lose a good friend and teammate, just a good man," said Ernie Whitt, Cerutti's former catcher. "It's very difficult to talk about, but it just shows you how quick life is and how it's taken away from you. What I can say about John is he was a very devoted man to his family. He loved the game of baseball, but more importantly, he loved his kids."

Cerutti is survived by his wife, Claudia, and children, Daniel, Nicole and Janine. In recent years, the left-hander worked for Rogers Sportsnet, serving as the lead analyst on Jays games. His only dissatisfaction with the job was that it caused him to be away from home for much of the season.

He'd already had enough of that. Cerutti was a first-round draft pick in 1981 and spent six of his seven big league seasons with the Blue Jays. With a 49-43 career record under his belt, Ceritti retired at the relatively young age of 31 and worked on his golf game. He spent six relaxing years at home before returning to Toronto.

When he got back, Cerutti started broadcasting on a part-time basis and never looked back. After a few seasons with CBC, he earned a more visible role with Rogers.

"Yesterday was a bad day for baseball in Canada, for many reasons. First and foremost, the loss of John Cerutti," said Paul Godfrey, Toronto's president and CEO. "There's no doubt that his loss yesterday weighs heavily on all of us today. The shock and sadness will last in our memory for many years, and our sympathy goes out to the Cerutti family."

Cerutti took his professional standing seriously, and he was always punctual and reliable. In fact, he said his greatest fear about his job was showing up to a game late. That had never happened before Sunday, and his co-workers started to worry when he didn't make it to an 11 a.m. production meeting.

There were a flurry of attempts to contact him, to no avail. Eventually, police officers and emergency service workers entered his room and found him without any vital signs. No foul play is suspected, and it's believed he died of natural causes.

Most people will remember him the same way: With an arched eyebrow and an easy smile, engaged in friendly conversation. Players loved to talk to him away from the camera, both for his empathy and sense of humor. Fans gravitated to him, and he seemed to have an endless supply of time and patience.

"It was an unbelievable shock. It goes to show how unimportant wins and losses are at a time like this," said Godfrey. "We grew to love John not only as a player but as a person. He's going to leave a void."

Spencer Fordin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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