Ken Caminiti, broadcast legend René Cárdenas join Astros Hall of Fame

HOUSTON -- It seems as though everyone has a different favorite memory of watching former Astros third baseman Ken Caminiti play baseball.

"He won an ESPY for throwing to first on one butt cheek,” daughter Nicole Caminiti said. “And you still watch those clips today and he put his whole heart and soul into the game, and his whole body."

“I remember him breaking bats on his knee,” daughter Lindsey Caminiti added. “I did that with a metal bat when I was young. I bruised myself up.”

"When he was playing in Mexico, he was sick and had to get an IV to get to the field and didn’t feel well and ate a Snickers bar,” daughter Kendall Caminiti said. “He hit two home runs and Snickers sent us a bunch of candy. I was very happy.”

What everyone can agree upon, however, is that Caminiti is one of the greatest players in Astros history, which is why he was inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame along with longtime announcer René Cárdenas during a ceremony before Saturday's game against the White Sox.

Caminiti’s family -- which was represented by his three daughters and widow, Nancy -- and Cárdenas each received an orange sportcoat and a Hall of Fame plaque, which will be displayed in Hall of Fame alley at Minute Maid Park. Caminiti is the 22nd player to be inducted, while Cárdenas is the sixth non-player and fourth broadcaster to be inducted.

"I am very happy and very proud to wear this,” Cárdenas, 94, said. “I dream about it. I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened. If you believe things can happen to you and to believe as strong as I did, I made it. Then other people will be able to make it, too."

Caminiti was taken by the Astros in the third round of the 1984 MLB Draft out of San Jose State and broke into the big leagues with the Astros with a bang, hitting a homer and a triple in his first game on July 16, 1987 -- one year before Craig Biggio made his debut.

With his hard-nosed style of play and cannon for an arm, Caminiti quickly became a fan favorite, and by 1991 he, Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and Luis Gonzalez were the cornerstones of a young team on the rise. Biggio, who broke into the big leagues as a catcher, had the best seat in the house to watch Caminiti’s wizardry at third base.

"Being a catcher, you watch everybody play, and the defensive plays he made on the left-hand side were Ozzie Smith- and Brooks Robinson-like,” Biggio said. “He just had the arm. When he unleashed the arm … it was just jaw-dropping when you watched him let it go.”

Caminiti was traded to the Padres after the 1994 season and won NL MVP honors in 1996 after hitting .326 with 40 homers and 130 RBIs. He returned to the Astros in 1999 for two injury-plagued seasons -- he hit three homers in the 1999 NLDS -- before finishing with the Braves in 2001. He passed away unexpectedly in 2004 at the age of 41.

"Houston meant a lot to him because he came up and was drafted by the Astros,” Nancy Caminiti said. “He didn’t really want to be traded. That’s why he was so happy to come back here. This was his home team, I guess you say. He didn’t grow up here. I hope he’s looking down and seeing this, because I think he would be really honored that Houston did this for him."

Caminiti was inducted into the Padres Hall of Fame in 2016, but Kendall said being honored by the Astros had a special meaning.

"It’s different being here, because this is home," she said. “We grew up here, he fought to come back to the Astros from the Padres. Detroit really wanted him, and he was like, ‘Absolutely not, I want to go home with my girls to Houston.’ This is where our family is and our friends we grew up with, so sharing the stage with everyone is really special.”

Cárdenas was a broadcasting pioneer for both the Colt .45s/Astros organization and for Major League Baseball. In 1958, he became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster to call games for a Major League team when he joined the Dodgers as their original Spanish radio broadcaster.

In 1961, he was hired by the expansion Colt .45s to pioneer their Spanish radio broadcasts as both their first broadcaster and as director of Spanish broadcasting. Cárdenas called Astros games for 14 seasons before returning to his native Nicaragua in 1975, where he called baseball games on both television and radio. In 1982, he returned to Los Angeles and called games for the Dodgers for several seasons before returning to the Astros’ Spanish radio broadcast in 2007 and 2008.