Late in Arizona Iced Tea Cans In A Microwave, I realized that we were recording on the ides of March, so I brought up the subject of favorite baseball Caesars… or Césars, as there’s never been a Caesar in MLB… and while my mind went right to César Izturis – always love a guy who winds up on nine teams in 13 seasons – I feel guilty for having neglected to mention César Cedeño.
This was a galling (Gauling?) omission, so let’s dig into a rabbit hole with the four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove outfielder, shall we?
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Although Cedeńo played for the Reds in the early 1980s, cementing him alongside Dave Concepción and Tony Pérez and others in my mind as a Cincinnati guy because of the prevalence of 1983-85 Topps in my foundational baseball years, it was Houston where Cedeño had his best years. What happens in my brain is that I, born and raised in the 1980s, meld together Cedeño (72-year-old Dominican who won Gold Gloves with a non-coastal NL West team in the 1970s) and César Gerónimo (75-year-old Dominincan who won Gold Gloves, four of them, with a non-coastal NL West team in the 1970s).
Gerónimo played for the Reds from 1972-80, arriving in Cincinnati from the Astros as part of the Joe Morgan trade (Morgan, Gerónimo, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, and Denis Menke for Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart. Two months before I was born, Gerónimo was traded to the Royals for Germán Barranca and, in his final season of 1983, entered three games against the Yankees in the late innings… but none of them was the Pine Tar Game.
Cedeño debuted with the Astros in 1970, getting the start on June 20 in Atlanta and collecting his first career hit against George Stone, later of the 1973 Mets. Gerónimo did not get an at-bat in the game, but did replace Tommy Davis for defense in Houston’s 9-6 victory.
So, they even played two years together, with Cedeño remaining in Houston through the 1981 season. The Reds, having gone a full season without anyone named César, and posted the NL West’s best record at 66-42 but missed the playoffs because they were second in each half of the strike-split season, traded Ray Knight to Houston to get Cedeño.
A thing I didn’t realize until now, in 2023, is that the 1981 Reds were managed by John McNamara, who of course managed the 1986 Red Sox in the World Series where Knight was the MVP. That 1981 Cincinnati team also included George Foster, who was released by the 1986 Mets, Bruce Berenyi, who didn’t pitch for the 1986 Mets after July, and a two-time ex-Met named (checks notes) Tom Seaver, who was on the 1986 Red Sox but didn’t pitch in the playoffs.
Cedeño didn’t play much for McNamara, though, because the Reds canned him in July. Like Gerónimo, when Cedeño left Cincinnati, he wound up in Missouri. In 1985, Cedeño was traded to the Cardinals for minor league outfielder Mark Jackson at the then-extant August trade deadline, and all he did there was hit .434/.463/.750 with six homers in 28 games to help St. Louis win the East over the Mets by three games. Fat lot of good it did in the playoffs, where Cedeño was a combined 4-for-27 between the NLCS and World Series, and the Cardinals lost to the Royals in the Fall Classic.
In 1986, Cedeño wrapped up his career as a member of the Dodgers, with his last game coming on June 2 at Veterans Stadium. He went 0-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored in a 13-2 Los Angeles loss.
Just to get it straight once and for all, here are the National League Gold Glove outfielders in the 1970s.
1972: Cedeño, Roberto Clemente, Willie Davis
1973: Bobby Bonds, Cedeño, Davis
1974: Bonds, Cedeño, Gerónimo
1975: Cedeño, Gerónimo, Garry Maddox
1976: Cedeño, Gerónimo, Maddox
1977: Gerónimo, Maddox, Dave Parker
That’s half the outfield Gold Gloves in the league, over a six-year span, to two Dominicans named César, both of whom started in Houston and then went on to Cincinnati and played almost entirely before I was born. I’m gonna forgive myself for mixing them up in my mind. It’s hard enough out here dealing with all the contemporary Wills Smith: Will Smith and Will Smith, neither of whom is even the most famous Will Smith, nor even the most famous Will Smith in baseball – if you include the proposed name of Penn’s baseball field in a quote that Quakers right fielder Kevin McCabe gave to Willets Pen musicologist Ryan Kelly back in 2000 in The Daily Pennsylvanian when the new Penn field opened under a radio station billboard featuring the Fresh Prince.
I actually felt they should have named the field Will Smith Field at Q102 Stadium. We need to get a Penn baseball sign up there or something like that. I was joking around with the guys, saying, “If you ever lose focus, look at the smiling Will Smith and you can't be upset.”
No word on if Chris Rock is to be awarded an honorary degree by Princeton in light of this information.
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