Dodgers first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster René Cárdenas passed away at 96

René Cárdenas, a broadcasting pioneer who became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster for domestic audiences in MLB history when he began working for the Dodgers in 1958, has died at 96 years old.

According to the Astros, one of three teams Cárdenas worked for during his decades-long career, he passed away at his home in Houston on Sunday.

René Cárdenas became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster for domestic audiences in MLB history when he began working for the Dodgers in 1958. AP

A native of Nicaragua –– where one of his grandfathers was not only president of the country in the late 19th century, but also introduced baseball to the nation –– Cárdenas was hired by the Dodgers shortly after they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, calling games on AM radio during their years playing at the Coliseum. 

In 1962, he moved to Houston to work for the Astros (then known as the Colt .45s), becoming their director of Spanish broadcasting. In that role, he organized and produced the first international radio network in MLB history, which reached 13 countries in Central and South America, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In 1981, Cárdenas was hired by the Texas Rangers as the first Spanish broadcaster in their club’s history.

Then, in 1982, he returned to the Dodgers, where he would remain through 1998 while working alongside Jaime Jarrín –– another Spanish-language broadcasting legend who originally joined the Dodgers a year after Cárdenas in 1959.

Among his many career highlights, Cárdenas was part of several other Spanish-language broadcasting firsts, including the 1959 World Series and 1961 All-Star Game.

He also returned to the Astros in 2008 to call games on TV in the United States for the first time in his career.

“We mourn the passing of René Cárdenas, who in 1958 with the Dodgers became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster in MLB history and would ultimately spend 21 years behind the mic for Los Angeles,” the Dodgers said in a statement. “We send our condolences to his loved ones.”