Cesar Cedeno

César Cedeño Encarnación, a Dominican former professional baseball player and coach, was born on February 25, 1951. He patrolled center field in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1986, spending his most notable years with the Houston Astros. With Houston, he helped the club secure its first National League Western Division title and postseason appearance in 1980.

A four-time All-Star, Cedeño blended speed and power to rank among the finest all-around players of his era. He set the bar for major league outfielders early in the 1970s, earning five straight Gold Glove Awards from 1972 through 1976. He became just the second player in MLB history to hit 20 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season, and he remains the only one to achieve that feat in three consecutive years. He also suited up for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

After retiring as a player, Cedeño worked as a minor league hitting coach for the Astros and Washington Nationals organizations. In 2020, he was inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame. More than 40 years after his final game with the team, he still holds the Astros franchise record for career stolen bases.

Houston signed Cedeño as an amateur free agent in 1967, and he made his big-league debut on June 20, 1970, at age 19. His .310 batting average as a rookie earned him a fourth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting. The following season, he led the majors in doubles. On September 2 of that year, he hit an unusual home run: with the bases loaded against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Astrodome, he blooped a ball that dropped between the right fielder and second baseman, who collided as the ball rolled away; Cedeño and his teammates raced around the bases for an inside-the-park grand slam.

In his third season, he again led the majors in doubles. He batted .320 in both 1972 and 1973. In 1972, he slugged 22 home runs, swiped 55 bases, and once more led the league in doubles, also winning a Gold Glove. Houston manager Leo Durocher once compared him to Willie Mays, saying, "At 22 Cedeño is as good or better than Willie was at the same age."

With a rare mix of power, blazing speed, and solid defense, Cedeño became the second man in MLB history (after Lou Brock in 1967) to join the 20–50 club by hitting 20 homers and stealing 50 bases in the same season. He accomplished this three years running (1972–1974), making him the only player ever to do so. He then stole 50 or more bases in each of the next three seasons (1975–1977), twice led the league in doubles (1971–1972), and drove in 102 runs in 1974.

Cedeño notched his 1,000th career hit on July 2, 1976, against the Cincinnati Reds, a single off Pat Zachry that was the second of four hits he collected that game (including a 14th-inning home run that helped the Astros win 10–7). Before turning 26, he had amassed 1,097 hits, the 13th-highest total for a 25-year-old in MLB history, surpassing future Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby (1,073) and Mickey Mantle (1,080).

On September 9, 1981, while playing at Atlanta Stadium, Cedeño entered the stands to confront a heckler. No punches were thrown and no charges were filed, but he was ejected and immediately suspended. On September 11, National League President Chub Feeney fined him $5,000 but imposed no further suspension, citing Cedeño’s apology to the fan by phone and in writing as "mitigating circumstances."

Cedeño finished in the top ten of stolen base leaders every year from 1971 to 1978 and again in 1980. His 550 career stolen bases ranked 27th all-time as of January 2018. He won five consecutive Gold Glove Awards (1972–1976), appeared in four All-Star Games (1972–1974, 1976), and was a contender for the National League MVP in 1972. In that year’s All-Star Game, he beat out Roberto Clemente for the starting outfield spot. He also hit for the cycle in both 1972 and 1976.

On December 18, 1981, the Astros traded Cedeño to the Cincinnati Reds for Ray Knight. At the time of his departure, he was Houston’s all-time leader in games played, runs, hits, doubles, and stolen bases.

With the Reds in 1982, Cedeño played 138 games, batting .289 with 142 hits and 16 stolen bases, while walking and striking out 41 times each. His next three seasons in Cincinnati were uneven: he played a combined 291 games, with a high of .291 in 1985 and a low of .232 in 1983, and he had more strikeouts than walks each season (something he had done nine times in his 12-year Astros career). He collected his 2,000th career hit on April 28, 1985, in the fifth inning off Mike Krukow of the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park. That made him the fifth member of the Reds’ roster to reach the 2,000-hit club, joining Pete Rose, Tony Pérez, Dave Concepción, and Buddy Bell.

On August 29, 1985, the Reds traded Cedeño to the St. Louis Cardinals for Mark Jackson. With St. Louis, he hit .434 with six home runs in 28 games, providing a power boost that helped the Cardinals outpace the New York Mets for a playoff spot. With only a month left in the season, Cedeño recorded the Cardinals’ longest hitting streak of 1985. He played first base to replace the injured Jack Clark in the final regular-season games and shifted to the outfield in the playoffs to help cover for the injured Vince Coleman.

For the combined 1985 season, he played 111 games, batting .291 with 14 stolen bases.