Cerone, who would soon be part of the inaugural Toronto Blue Jays team of 1977, began his 18-year Major League career with the Cleveland Indians with seven games in 1975, batting .250 with three hits over 12 at-bats while getting his first taste behind the plate.
He would go on to play through the 1992 season, with 1980 easily his best season as he surprised everyone, especially us kids here in NYC when he hit .277 with 14 homers and 85 runs batted in after taking over as the first full-time catcher after the tragic death of Thurman Munson the year before.
His efforts that year got him a seventh-place finish in American League MVP voting, yet ironically he’d never get to play full-time in any season the rest of the way.
Nevertheless, he retired with 1329 games under his belt, with three tours in the Bronx, batting .245 based on 998 hits in 4069 at-bats along with 436 runs batted in and 393 runs scored.
