René Cárdenas, the first full-time Spanish-language announcer in Major League Baseball history, died Sunday at his home in Houston. He was 96. Cárdenas spent decades expanding the reach of baseball broadcasts in Spanish across the United States and Latin America.
Cárdenas joined the Dodgers radio booth in 1958, the team’s first season in Los Angeles. He later moved to Houston in 1961 to become the expansion Colt .45s’ first Spanish-language broadcaster and director of Spanish broadcasting. During his time with the Astros, he created the first international radio network for baseball, which reached audiences in 13 countries and helped the club recruit talent from South and Central America.
