HOUSTON (AP) — René Cárdenas, the first Spanish-language broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers during a 60-year career, has died. He was 96.
The Astros said Monday that Cárdenas died Sunday at his home in Houston.
Cárdenas joined the Dodgers when they moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958. He was part of the first Spanish broadcast of the World Series in 1959 and the All-Star Game two years later.
“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 Sunday in a social media post.
The expansion Houston Colt .45s hired Cárdenas in 1961 for their inaugural season of 1962. He spent 14 seasons with a franchise that was renamed the Astros in 1965, when they moved into the Astrodome.
“With yesterday’s passing of Rene Cardenas, we lost a true legend and pioneer in broadcasting,” the Astros wrote Monday in a statement on social media. “As the franchise 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 returned to his native Nicaragua in 1975 before coming back to MLB in 1981, when he was the first Spanish broadcaster for the Rangers, according to retired Rangers public relations executive John Blake.
A second stint with the Dodgers lasted nearly two decades starting in 1982. He also returned to the Astros, becoming the first to call games in Spanish on television for Houston in 2008.
After retiring, Cárdenas wrote for the Astros’ Spanish-language website and for La Prensa, a Nicaraguan newspaper.
Cárdenas also called high-profile events in other sports, including the Muhammad Ali-Jimmy Ellis heavyweight boxing match at the Astrodome in 1971.
He was inducted into the Nicaragua Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He was inducted into the Broadcasters Wing of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted into the Astros Baseball Media Wall of Honor in 2013.
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FILE - Longtime Spanish radio broadcaster René Cárdenas waves to the crowd as he is inducted into the Houston Astros Hall of Fame Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox, File)
LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A South Texas medical examiner believes heat stroke may have led to the death of six people thought to be immigrants who were found Sunday afternoon inside a boxcar at a Union Pacific rail yard near the Mexico border in Laredo, Texas.
The people were found Sunday as workers were inspecting one of the cars, said Jose Baeza, a spokesperson for the Laredo Police Department.
Police and fire crews arrived at the scene shortly afterward. They confirmed that there were six people dead, five men and one woman, Baeza told reporters.
Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb County Medical Examiner, is conducting autopsies and completed one for a 29-year-old Mexican woman who died of hyperthermia, or heat stroke. “I’ve ruled that an accidental death,” she said. “I believe that the remaining individuals probably all succumbed to heat stroke as well, but their exams are not completed at this time, so I will not rule on their cause and manner yet.”
Stern found identification cards and cellphones that indicate the deceased may be from Mexico and Honduras, but fingerprints were taken and shared with U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program.
The medical examiner's office also contacted the Mexican consulate after identifying the woman.
“This was a horrific scene,” Stern added, also noting that immigrant deaths is a common occurrence in the ten-county region her office covers. “This spring has been busier than it was this time last year,” the medical examiner said.
Border encounters dropped toward the end of the Biden administration and reached record low numbers under the second Trump administration. About 40 people are encountered crossing illegally by Border Patrol agents in Laredo in March making it the third busiest sector among nine along the southwest border, according to the agency's statistics.
The travel history of the boxcar was not known.
“Union Pacific is saddened by this incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate,” the rail company said in a statement.
Laredo is a busy land port of entry for trade on the U.S.-Mexico border and a common nexus for the illegal movement of people, although authorities have not said whether the six deaths were related to a smuggling operation.
Last year, two smugglers were sentenced to life in prison for what remains the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. They were convicted in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022.
Smuggling on trains crossing the border has long been a concern partly because trains headed to the United States often slow or stop in Mexico before crossing the border. That creates an opportunity for smugglers or immigrants to climb aboard or hide drugs or other contraband on a train before it crosses into America.
Union Pacific has worked with authorities for years to address drug smuggling and trespassers trying to cross the border on trains. As part of that effort, the railroad has installed inspection portals that scan the trains and take pictures to help spot any abnormalities that would suggest contraband or immigrants aboard the train.
In this image taken from video footage provided by KGNS, Union Pacific train cars are stationed at a rail yard in Laredo, Texas, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (KGNS via AP)
