Spanish Baseball Broadcaster Rene Cardenas Named Finalist for Prestigious Ford C. Frick Award

By Francisco Romero.-

Spanish broadcasting pioneer Rene Cardenas has been named as one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced on Friday.

Nicaraguan Rene Cardenas Became the First Full-Time MLB Spanish Broadcaster in 1958 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and with the Houston Astros

The Hall of Fame’s Frick award presented annually for excellence in broadcasting.

Cardenas, a native of Managua, Nicaragua, started his professional baseball broadcast career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958, becoming one of the first members of a Spanish radio broadcast team in the history of Major League Baseball. In the coming years, Cardenas further made history as a pioneer, as he and his team became the first Spanish radio broadcast team to call a World Series (1959) and an All-Star Game (1961).

Cardenas was brought into the Houston organization by Judge Roy Hofheinz in 1962 as the Director of the Spanish Division for the Colt .45’s, and stayed with the Astros through 1975. He also spent time with the Texas Rangers organization, where he started their very first Spanish radio broadcast. Following his time in Arlington, Cardenas returned to LA where he did Spanish radio and TV broadcasts for the Dodgers in the 1980s.

Cardenas returned to Houston in 2000 where he began writing for the club. He returned to Spanish radio broadcast in 2007 and in 2008, became a television broadcaster for the team. He now writes for La Prensa, as well as the Astros Gameday Magazine and La Voz.

 “This means a great deal to me,” Cardenas said. “The Frick Award is the highest honor, so it is an honor for me to be nominated again. When I was 16 years old in Nicaragua, I decided that I wanted to be a broadcaster. It has been a wonderful career. I have dedicated my life to baseball, which is the world’s greatest game. I am truly honored.”