Leo Cárdenas

Leonardo Lazaro Cárdenas Alfonso (born December 17, 1938) is a Cuban former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1960 to 1975, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, where he was the starting shortstop for seven seasons.^[1]

A five-time

Cárdenas was awarded the full-time starting shortstop job in 1962, and responded with a .294 average, 10 home runs and 60 RBI. He remained the Reds' starting shortstop for seven seasons, earning All-Star nods in 1964, 1965, and 1968, and being elected to start in 1966.^[8] Cárdenas had eight RBI and belted four home runs in a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs, on June 5, 1966,^[9] on his way to setting a club record for home runs by a shortstop with 20 (later broken by Barry Larkin).^[10] Following the 1968 season, Cárdenas was traded to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Jim Merritt.^[11]

Minnesota Twins

The Twins had something of a revolving door at short in 1968 with Jackie Hernández, Rick Renick, Ron Clark and César Tovar all manning the position at one point or another. Bringing in Cárdenas for 1969 solidified the Twins at their weakest position, and helped turn around the team's fortune. They went from 79 to 83 and seventh place in the American League (AL) to 97–65 and winning the American League West the first year of divisional play. For his part, Cárdenas batted .280 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI at the bottom of the Twins' batting order. He tied an AL record for assists by a shortstop, with 570.

Cárdenas was batting .285 with 11 home runs and 46 RBI at the

At 33 years old, Cárdenas was clearly on the decline, by the time he joined the Angels. He batted only .143 in the month of June, and ended the season with a .223 average, six home runs and 42 RBI. During Spring training 1973, Cárdenas was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Tommy McCraw and minor leaguer Bob Marcano to make room for Bobby Valentine at short, whom they had recently acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[14]

Cleveland Indians

With the Indians, Cárdenas found himself in more of a back-up role, for the first time in his career. He made his first big league appearance at third, on August 16, and committed an error.^[15]

Texas Rangers

Following Cárdenas‘ only season in Cleveland, he was dealt to the Texas Rangers in a controversial deal for catcher Ken Suarez, who had just filed for arbitration a week before the February 12, 1974 trade. He filed a formal grievance against the Rangers claiming that he was traded in retaliation.^[16] Suarez never appeared in a game with the Indians, retiring instead.

Cárdenas, meanwhile, appeared in 34 games for the Rangers, 21 of which were at third base. He spent one more season with the Rangers as a third baseman, before retiring.

Career stats

Cárdenas led NL shortstops in

Personal life

Despite having come to the United States in 1956, and twice being married to American women, Cárdenas never got around to applying for American citizenship. He has eight children.^[3] In 1998, Cárdenas was sentenced to three months in jail for assault, after breaking out the windows of a car that his wife and a male co-worker were sitting in, and breaking the man's arm with a bat.^[17]

Cárdenas lives in Cincinnati and makes regular appearances at the Reds Hall of Fame, Great American Ball Park and every December at Reds Fest.^[18]

References