René Cárdenas, who became the first full-time Spanish broadcaster in Major League Baseball history with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958, died May 10. He was 96.
“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 team announced on X. “We send our condolences to his loved ones.”
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“With yesterday’s passing of Rene Cardenas, we lost a true legend and pioneer in broadcasting,” the Houston Astros announced May 11 on X. “As the franchise’s first Spanish broadcaster, Rene had a tremendous impact on the success of the Colt .45s/Astros in Houston’s large Hispanic community and beyond. We send our heartfelt condolences to Rene’s family and loved ones.”
Cárdenas’ work with the Dodgers, Astros and Texas Rangers helped MLB reach generations of Latino listeners. He was inducted into the Nicaragua Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Astros Hall of Fame in 2024.
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Cárdenas was born February 6, 1930, in Managua, Nicaragua. As a teenager, he wrote about baseball for Nicaraguan newspapers and called games on Radio Mundial before moving to the United States.
When the Dodgers relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, Cárdenas helped establish Spanish broadcasts on KWKW-AM. They became a permanent part of the team’s media landscape as Cárdenas mentored future Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrín, who joined the Dodgers’ Spanish-language crew in 1959.
Cárdenas called the first Spanish-language World Series broadcast in 1959 and the first Spanish-language All-Star Game broadcast in 1961.
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In 1961, the expansion Houston Colt .45s hired Cárdenas to launch Spanish-language broadcasts for their inaugural 1962 season. He spent 14 seasons with the franchise, remaining after the club became the Astros in 1965. During his tenure, he developed an international radio network that carried Astros games across Central and South America, expanding both the team’s reach and MLB’s presence in Spanish-speaking countries.
After returning to Nicaragua in the mid-1970s, Cárdenas came back to Major League Baseball in 1981 as the first Spanish-language broadcaster for the Texas Rangers. He rejoined the Dodgers in 1982 for a second stint that lasted nearly two decades. In 2008, he became the first broadcaster to call Astros games in Spanish on television.
Beyond baseball, Cárdenas also broadcast boxing and other sporting events, including the 1971 heavyweight title fight between Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Ellis at the Astrodome.
Though repeatedly nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he never received the honor.
