CESAR CEDENO: Yankee Statman considers this outfielder of the early 70's one of the three or four greatest talents in the last 50 years.

Welcome my Steemian friends to this post on Cesar Cedeno, a long forgotten great of a former era.
We enjoy writing about the great game and its legends of the past. While the "markets" are my primarily focal point here and was my profession, there was a time when I played the game and had professional aspirations! the game remains a passion and I enjoy sharing its history on Steemit.

I remember this phenom coming onto the scene in 1970 with the Houston Astros as a 19 year old from Santo Domingo.

He combined blazing speed, power, great defense and could hit for average as well. To me he was a Roberto Clemente who could steal 50 bases per year.

A typical season would be like the '72 season. The 21 year old stole 55 bases, batted .320 and hit 22 homeruns playing great center field. By the time he was 29 he had compiled about 400 stolen bases, approx. a .295 batting average . He was a Barry Bonds before steroids.

In 1973 his gun went off in a motel room in the Dominican Repbulic killing his girlfriend. He was charged with voluntary manslaughter. His lawyers got that reduced to involuntary manslaughter and he spent three weeks in jail, was released and fined 100.00!

Cedeno was not the same ballplayer after age 30. His reckless style led to injuries. He played for the Reds, Cardinals and Dodgers (briefly) after his 12 years with Houston.

He had a fine career, with over 2000 hits, 199 home runs, 550 stolen bases. On three occasions hit hit 20 or more home runs and stole over 50 bases. I believe that is a record.

While not a Hall of Famer and his career stats do not deserve induction (he's close!), he nonetheless along with Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey jr. are in my opinion three of the greatest all around talents of the past fifty years.