Cuban baseball player (born 1943)
Baseball player
Jose Rosario Domec Cardenal
(born October 7, 1943) is a
Cuban American
former professional
baseball
player and
coach
. He played in
Major League Baseball
as an
outfielder
from 1963 to 1980, most prominently as a member of the
Chicago Cubs
, with whom he established himself as a fan favorite for his powerful hitting and his strong throwing arm.
[1]
He had the best seasons of his career in Chicago, posting career highs in home runs and batting average as a member of the Cubs.
[1]
After his playing career, Cardenal worked as a coach for several major league organizations and participated in three
World Series
as the first base coach for the New York Yankees. Cardenal was inducted into the
Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame
in 2022.
[1]
Playing career
[
edit
]
Cardenal was born in
Matanzas, Cuba
where, he grew up playing baseball with his second cousin and future major league player
Bert Campaneris
. He started his major league career with the San Francisco Giants in 1963 and was sent to the California Angels before the 1965 season. He finished second in the
American League
with 37 stolen bases, then was dealt to the Cleveland Indians for
Chuck Hinton
on November 29, 1967.
[2]
He led the Indians twice in steals twice with a career-high 40 in 1968.
[3]
In that season, he tied a major league record for outfielders by making two unassisted
double plays
. Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1970, he hit .293 with 74 RBI. In a 1971 season split between the Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers, he collected a career-high 80 RBI. He was traded by the Brewers to the Cubs for
Jim Colborn
,
Brock Davis
and
Earl Stephenson
on December 3, 1971.
[4]
In 1973 as a
right fielder
for the Cubs, Cardenal led the team in
batting average
(.303),
doubles
(33) and stolen bases (19), being named Cubs Player of the Year by the Chicago baseball writers. Famously temperamental, in 1974 Cardenal was at odds with the Cubs management, and notoriously refused to play the season opener claiming that he was injured because the eyelids of one eye were stuck open.
[5]
In 1975 he posted career-highs in average (.317) and
hits
(182).
[3]
He had another good season in 1976, batting .299 with 8 home runs and 47 RBI. On May 2, Cardenal went 6-for-7 in a 6?5 win over San Francisco in 14 innings at
Candlestick Park
.
[6]
He slumped in 1977, batting only .239 with just 3 home runs and 18 RBI in 100 games played.
[3]
Cardenal played with the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1978 and 1979 seasons. He was the last player to wear uniform number 1 for the team, which retired the number in honor of
Richie Ashburn
during the 1979 season. The Phillies sent Cardenal to the New York Mets on August 2, 1979, between games of a twi-night double header featuring the two teams. Cardenal was a member of the Phillies for the first game and switched uniforms and dugouts to join the Mets for the second. He played for the New York Mets for the balance of the 1979 season and was there for most of the 1980 campaign. He was released by the Mets in August of that year. He later signed with the Kansas City Royals, ending his major league career with the Royals during the
1980 World Series
.
[3]
In an 18-season career, Cardenal was a .275 hitter with 138
home runs
and 775
RBI
in 2017
games played
. In addition, he collected 1913 hits, 936
runs
, 333
doubles
, 46
triples
, 329 stolen bases and 608
bases on balls
. Defensively, he recorded an overall .978
fielding percentage
.
[3]
Coaching career
[
edit
]
Cardenal
coached
for the
Reds
, Cardinals,
Yankees
, and
Devil Rays
. He was the first base coach for the Yankees run of World Championships in 1996, 1998, and 1999.
[7]
He resigned from his position with the Yankees prior to the 2000 season over a contract dispute.
[8]
Cardenal became the senior advisor to the
Washington Nationals
general manager in 2005. On September 14, he announced that he wanted to help the victims of
Hurricane Katrina
, and was seeking to auction his
World Series ring
he won with the New York Yankees in 1998.
[9]
Cardenal was relieved of his position with the Nationals following the
2009
season.
[10]
Cultural impact
[
edit
]
First Lady
Michelle Obama
hugged Cardenal during the Chicago Cubs January, 2017 visit to the White House. The team and some veterans were invited there to celebrate their 2016 World Series victory. Native Chicagaon Obama said she wore her Cubs hat on top of her oversized Afro the same way Cardenal had during his career, as seen above in the photograph of his baseball card.
[11]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Fan favorite Jose Cardenal forever enshrined into Cubs Hall of Fame"
.
marqueesportsnetwork.com
. Retrieved
1 September
2023
.
- ^
Lacy, Sam. "Chuck Hinton welcomes trade to Angels, Rigney,"
The Baltimore Afro-American
, December 2, 1967.
Retrieved March 2, 2013
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Jose Cardenal Stats - Baseball-Reference.com"
.
Baseball-Reference.com
.
- ^
Durso, Joseph. "Astros Acquire Roberts And Twins Get Granger,"
The New York Times
, Saturday, December 4, 1971.
Retrieved March 23, 2020
- ^
"Chicago Cubs History and News - Welcome to Just One Bad Century"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-05-10
. Retrieved
2012-05-09
.
- ^
"Jose Cardenal 6-hit Game At Retrosheet"
.
retrosheet.org
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Madden, Bill (February 23, 2000).
"To Jose Cardenal, 1st Things 1st"
.
Daily News
. New York.
- ^
Kepner, Tyler (January 11, 2000).
"BASEBALL; Mazzilli Is Back in New York and Wearing Pinstripes"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Ladson, Bill (14 September 2005).
"Cardenal wants to help"
.
MLB.com
. Retrieved
3 June
2010
.
- ^
http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091008&content_id=7395630&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was
[
dead link
]
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"West Wing Week 01/19/17 or, "Obama, Farewell"
"
.
YouTube
.
External links
[
edit
]
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