Cesar Cedeno César Cedeño Encarnación (born February 25, 1951 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the Houston Astros (1970-81), Cincinnati Reds (1982-85), St. Louis Cardinals (1985) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1986). He batted and threw right-handed. Signed by Houston as an amateur free agent in 1967, Cedeño debuted on June 20, 1970 at 19 years of age. He never became "The next Willie Mays", as Houston manager Leo Durocher once suggested he would, but certainly he had a distinguished career and was a solid performer in the major leagues.
Cedeño showed signs of superstardom early in his career, batting .310 in his rookie season in 1970, and .320 in both 1972 and 1973. Possessing a rare combination of power, blazing speed and good defense, he became the only man in major league history to hit 20 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season -- and Cedeño accomplished the feat three years in a row (1972-74). He also stole 50-plus bases the next three years (1975-77), twice led the league in doubles (1971-72) and collected 102 RBI in 1974.
Ironically, Cedeño's career was hampered by his aggressive fielding style which often led to injuries. (One example: In 1972 Cedeño smashed into the wall while robbing Willie Mays of a home run.) Cedeño's career was also dogged by an incident in which his gun accidentally discharged in a motel room, killing his girlfried.
A winner of five consecutive Gold Glove Awards (1972-76), Cedeño appeared in four All-Star Games (1972-74, 1976), and was a contender for the National League MVP in 1972. In the 1972 All-Star game, Cedeño beat out Roberto Clemente for the starting NL position. In the same period, Cedeño hit for the cycle in both 1972 and 1976.
By 1985 Cedeño was one of the Reds' five active members of the 2000-hit club, along with Pete Rose, Tony Pérez, Dave Concepción and Buddy Bell. On August 29, 1985, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where he hit .434 with 6 home runs in 28 games and arguably provided the necessary power for his new team to outpace the New York Mets to reach the playoffs; he played first base to replace the injured Jack Clark in the final regular season games and played in the outfield in the playoffs to help replace the injured Vince Coleman. He finished his career with the Dodgers and played his final game on June 2, 1986.
In a 17-year career, Cedeño was a .285 hitter with 199 home runs and 976 RBI in 2006 games. His 550 stolen bases rank him 25th on the all-time list.
After retiring, Cedeño has been both a fielding and hitting coach in the Dominican and Venezuelan winter leagues.
