Cincinnati Reds Cárdenas was called up to the Reds in to fill in for an injured
Roy McMillan. Cárdenas made his Major League debut on July 25, 1960, starting and batting eighth and playing shortstop in a 6–5 Reds win over the
Chicago Cubs at
Wrigley Field. After grounding into a
double play and later lining out, he notched his first career
hit with a seventh-inning run-scoring
single off Cubs pitcher
Bob Anderson. For the season, he batted .232 with one
home run and 12
runs batted in (RBI). After the season, McMillan was dealt to the
Milwaukee Braves for
pitchers
Joey Jay and
Juan Pizarro. Reds Manager
Fred Hutchinson's original plan heading into the season was to
platoon Cárdenas and
utility infielder Eddie Kasko at short, with Cárdenas being the better fielder and Kasko being the better hitter. Cárdenas, however, surprised his boss with a .308
batting average. He also clubbed five home runs to Kasko's two in 271 fewer
at bats. Cárdenas was awarded the full-time starting shortstop job in , and responded with a .294 average, 10 home runs and 60 RBI. He remained the Reds' starting shortstop for seven seasons, earning
All-Star nods in
1964,
1965, and
1968, and being elected to start in
1966. Cárdenas had eight RBI and belted four home runs in a
doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs, on June 5, , on his way to setting a club record for home runs by a shortstop with 20 (later broken by
Barry Larkin). Following the season, Cárdenas was traded to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher
Jim Merritt.
Minnesota Twins The Twins had something of a revolving door at short in 1968 with
Jackie Hernández,
Rick Renick,
Ron Clark and
César Tovar all manning the position at one point or another. Bringing in Cárdenas for solidified the Twins at their weakest position, and helped turn around the team's fortune. They went from 79–83 and seventh place in the
American League (AL) to 97–65 and winning the
American League West the first year of divisional play. For his part, Cárdenas batted .280 with 10 home runs and 70 RBI at the bottom of the Twins'
batting order. He tied an AL record for
assists by a shortstop, with 570. Cárdenas was batting .285 with 11 home runs and 46 RBI at the
1971 All-Star break, leading to him being named to his only AL All-Star team; however, Cárdenas did not appear in the game. He ended the season with 18 home runs and 75 RBI and a stellar .985
fielding percentage to receive the Calvin R. Griffith Award given each season to the Twins'
Most Valuable Player. Cárdenas‘ fielding percentage was the highest recorded in the American League since records began in .
California Angels At the 1971
Winter meetings, the California Angels acquired Cárdenas for
relief pitcher Dave LaRoche. The acquisition marked former All-Star shortstop
Jim Fregosi as trade bait; he would go to the
New York Mets for
Nolan Ryan a week later. At 33 years old, Cárdenas was clearly on the decline by the time he joined the Angels. He batted only .143 in the month of June, and ended the season with a .223 average, six home runs and 42 RBI. During
Spring training , Cárdenas was traded to the Cleveland Indians for
Tommy McCraw and minor leaguer Bob Marcano to make room for
Bobby Valentine at short, whom they had recently acquired from the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cleveland Indians With the Indians in 1973, Cárdenas found himself in more of a back-up role, for the first time in his career. He made his first big league appearance at
third, on August 16, and committed an
error.
Texas Rangers Following Cárdenas‘ only season in Cleveland, he was dealt to the Texas Rangers in a controversial deal for
catcher Ken Suarez, who had just filed for arbitration a week before the February 12, trade. He filed a formal grievance against the Rangers claiming that he was traded in retaliation. Suarez never appeared in a game with the Indians, retiring instead. Cárdenas, meanwhile, appeared in 34 games for the Rangers, 21 of which were at third base. He spent one more season with the Rangers as a
third baseman, before retiring. ==Career stats==