Houston Sports - Cesar Cedeño

Cesar Cedeño

Born: February 25, 1951

Sport: Baseball (4-time All-Star, 5-time Gold Glove)

Here in the United States, we are recognizing Memorial Day and honoring those whose lives were laid down in military service to our nation.  While it is a day off from work for most employees that have a normal M-F schedule and also represents the unofficial beginning of summer, it's not so much a day of celebration as reflection and gratitude.  If you are the survivor of someone who paid that ultimate price, our collective thoughts are with you on this day of remembrance and I'm sure I speak for many when I say that we honor that sacrifice and do not take for granted the benefits we enjoy at your expense.  Thank you.  Today, a day later than I typically post, I went back in time to find if any Houston events took place that included a local sports figure that merited inclusion in our list.  I found a couple of Rockets playoff games of interest and two big Astros come-from-behind wins, one of which came during the 2017 season and eventually led to the team's first World Series and the other was way back in 1975.  There's plenty of time to look into some of the major players that were part of that first championship and some of the players are still active, but for this week's purposes I thought it might be fun to get to know one of the players from back in the 1970s who was a foundational piece in the Astros becoming a playoff team for the first time.  Although he never quite became "the next Willie Mays", as some predicted, his solid contributions to Houston's local nine still mean his name is etched into the franchise record books.  Let's get to know about Cesar Cedeño.

A 1970s look at the Astrodome, Cedeño's home with the Houston Astros for 12 seasons

The Dominican Republic has long been a source of MLB talent, and that was certainly the case when the Astros managed to sign Cesar Cedeño who hailed from the nation's capital of Santo Domingo.  As a child, his future path was the object of some dispute by his parents, Diogenes and Juana Cedeño, with his father wanting him to focus on work and school while his mom supported his athletic dreams.  At the age of 11, young Cesar was working at a nail packing plant alongside Diogenes, and when the family purchased a small grocery store the son was expected to help his father.  But unknown to Diogenes, Juana had purchased shoes and a glove for her son, and he practiced by himself late at night.  After briefly returning to the nail packing plant full-time at the age of 14, Cesar returned to school just one year later.  He would not finish his education, however, as a pair of Astros scouts caught a glimpse of the young man in the fall of 1967 at the age of 16, ironically only seeing him play when the game they intended to watch got rained out.  After a workout and brief negotiation, Diogenes permitted Cesar to sign with the Astros for the sum of $3,000 and the young man was quickly on his way to Virginia to begin his professional career.

Having to learn English quickly, which he did primarily by watching cartoons and cowboy movies, the teenaged Cesar Cedeño didn't need much help on the diamond, batting a robust .374 before being promoted to A ball in Florida.  The 1969 season saw him remain at that level all year under the very same scout who had signed him, and he continued to improve his offense by becoming more patient at the plate and consequently leading the league in doubles.  After starting the 1970 season at AAA, Cedeño became the youngest player in the National League on June 20, getting called up to the major leagues for his debut at just 19 years old.  After getting a pair of hits on his first day, Cedeño struggled for a while before missing a week to a sprained ankle.  He returned strong, batting .310 for his rookie season and gaining the attention of fans and players across baseball.  Defensively he covered so much territory in center field that corner outfielders could hug the lines in a "no doubles" formation, improving the entire team.  Although Cedeño's 1971 season was a bit of a struggle that saw his batting average end at just .264 he did lead all of baseball in doubles, and 1972 was a strong rebound that led to a .320 average and prompted his first All-Star appearance and first Gold Glove.  His style and skill drew comparisons to future Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, the premier outfielder of the era who would soon become the first Latin-born player to be enshrined in Cooperstown, and his 8.0 WAR in 1972 remains the all-time record for Astros outfielders.  Cedeño had exactly the same average in 1973 while improving his power to eclipse the 25 home run mark for the first time in his career, and he earned the same individual honors as the year before.  After the season, however, tragedy struck as he returned to the Dominican Republic and decided to spend time with 19-year-old Altagracia de la Cruz instead of his own wife, Cora.  After an evening at the clubs, the pair checked into a hotel where the effects of drugs and alcohol took a deadly turn when de la Cruz was fatally shot in the head.  Cedeño, who initially fled the scene before turning himself into local police after he had sobered up, claimed she had been playing with his gun and it had gone off accidentally when he tried to take it away from her.  The investigation indicated that only the victim had fired a weapon, and when police were unable to fix any blame on Cedeño and the prosecution moved to dismiss charges, he was fined 100 pesos for involuntary manslaughter and released.  Many baseball fans were surprised that commissioner Bowie Kuhn declined to suspend the Astros outfielder, although he had to face opposing fans calling him a murderer when he returned to the field.

In spite of the tragic incident and subsequent legal troubles, Cesar Cedeño continued to perform well on the field.  He continued a streak of five consecutive seasons of earning Gold Glove honors and only missed being selected to the All-Star team during that stretch in 1975.  That season was actually when the Astros came back from a 6-0 deficit on today's date, with Cedeño hitting the 9th inning homer to send it to extra innings where they ultimately won 8-7.  But teammates noticed the heckling and reckless play seemed to take their toll, with offensive production declining rather than reaching the lofty expectations many had.  The Astros resigned their talented outfielder to a record contract after the 1978 season, 10 years and $3.5 million, but in 1979 he tore his medial collateral ligament sliding into second base and required major surgery.  Working hard to return, Cedeño took the field as a first baseman but it took a while to return to form.  The 1980 season was huge for him personally as well as the Astros franchise as he batted .309 with 10 home runs, his first time to hit double-digits in three years.  Houston managed to defeat the LA Dodgers in a tiebreaker to reach their first postseason appearance, losing a best-of-five to eventual World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in five games.  One year later, during a strike-shortened 1981 season, Cedeño was in the midst of a poor season when he entered the stands during a game in Atlanta to confront a fan who had been heckling both him and his wife.  He was fined and suspended, and both he and the fan were ejected, but no charges were ultimately filed.  It would be his final year in Houston, as he chose not to enforce his no-trade clause to approve a move to Cincinnati.  Cedeño's time with the Reds was largely forgettable, despite his hope that the change of scenery would help him return to form.  When he was reduced to part-time play Cedeño expressed his frustration and was soon moved again to St. Louis.  The Cardinals wanted to keep him on the bench for the stretch run as an insurance policy in case a star was limited by injury.  For his part, Cedeño accepted his role as his contract wound to a close, and he eventually played in 10 postseason games as the Cardinals made their way to the World Series, but eventually lost a seven-game series to the Kansas City Royals.  Cedeño signed a contract in the offseason to play for the Blue Jays but when he was released without playing a game he pivoted to the Dodgers.  After just 37 games with Los Angeles he played his final professional game on June 2, 1986.  Despite signing with St. Louis again he was unable to make it back to the majors and ultimately retired.

As a baseball player, Cesar Cedeño was talented but never seemed to reach his potential.  As a citizen, however, he was best known for his temper.  During 1987 in the town of Nassau Bay, which is fairly close to where I live, Cedeño was bumped by a man in a bar and his response resulted in a broken face and table, as well as an arrest for assault.  A year later he was once again arrested and charged in a neighboring city, this time for a drunken assault against a girlfriend over a custody dispute over their daughter.  He was still married to Cora at the time.  The Astros had Cedeño take over as hitting coach for a minor league team in Kissimmee in 1990, but two years later he once again got into legal trouble, this time with the same girlfriend while she was pregnant with another one of his children.  Fortunately it was the last time he faced that sort of trouble.  Cedeño has been involved in player development with the Astros organization, usually at the minor league level, at various points throughout the years since his retirement but has maintained a low profile.  In 2020 the franchise added him to their Hall of Fame, although he did not receive any notable consideration for Cooperstown and was removed from the ballot after just one year.  

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