Cerone turns 71 today.
The first blue Jay was cerone. Four months and one day before their inaugural game, the Jays traded for Rick and John Lowenstein, sending Rico Carty to Cleveland in exchange. We had taken Carty from Cleveland in the expansion draft and would re-sign him in March 1978.eroneurns 71 today.
His first-ever game, Cerone played, going 2 for 4 with a double in our win over the White Sox (in the snow). played four games in that first week before being sent to AAA. And returned for a game in May and was up for good in mid-August. He hit .200/.245/.270 in 31 games.
In 1978, he played 88 games, hitting.223/.284/.298 with three home runs while splitting the catcher position with Alan Ashby. Following the season, the Jays traded Ashby to the Astros, and Cerone became our full-time catcher in 1979.
hit a bit better in 1979, .239/.294/.358, with 7 home runs in 136 game
We traded Rick, with Tom Underwood and Ted Wilborn, to the Yankees for Chris Chambliss, Damaso Garcia, and Paul Mirabella. We flipped Chambliss to the Braves for Barry Bonnell, Joey McLaughlin, and Pat Rockett. Garcia would go on to play seven seasons with the Jays. Both trades worked out well for the Jays.
Yankees catcher Thurman Munson died during the 1989 season when he crashed his plane while taking flying lessons
He had an excellent 1980 season, hitting .277/.321/.432 with 14 home runs (easily his best offensive season), helping the Yankees finish first in the AL East. He finished 7th in MVP voting. Rick would play five seasons with the Yankees, making it to the World Series once, losing to the Dodgers in 1981.
After the Yankees, he played for the Braves, Brewers, Yankees again, Red Sox, Yankees yet again, Mets, and the Expos (becoming the backup to my favourite, Gary Carter).
Rick had an 18-year MLB career, hitting .245/.301/.343 with 59 home runs in 1329 games. He was never a great hitter (he had 2 seasons with an OPS+ over 100), but he was the definition of a hard-nosed catcher. He was sound defensively, had a good arm, and was good at blocking the plate. My main memory of him is of a dirty uniform.
Should Rick had, quite easily, the best career of any of the Blue Jays to play in our first game.
Later after retiring, he spent a few years in radio. It would be interesting to chat to him about the Blue Jays’ early days and his thoughts on the trade to the Yankees. I would imagine he was overjoyed to go up the rankings.
Happy Birthday, Rick. I hope it is a good one.