Roger Cador

Roger Cador

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 5", Weight 154 lb.

• School Southern University

• Born January 30, 1952 in Ventress, LA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Roger Cador reached AAA in the minors before becoming a college coach.

Cador was picked by the Atlanta Braves in the 10th round of the 1973 amateur draft. He made his professional debut the same year with the Wytheville Braves, hitting .283/.376/.429 and stealing 10 bases in 12 tries. He was 8th in the Appalachian League in average, just ahead of U.L. Washington.

The outfielder split 1974 between the Greenwood Braves and Peninsula Pennants, putting up similar numbers at both stops. Overall, he batted .308/.378/.403 and had 9 assists with 3 errors. Had he qualified, he would have been in the top 10 in both the Carolina League and Western Carolinas League in average.

In 1975, Cador fell to .235/.293/.348 for the Savannah Braves, though he did belt a career-high 13 home runs and he also stole 20 bases while only being thrown out stealing four times. Assigned once more to Tommie Aaron's Savannah squad in '76, Roger improved his average and OBP but saw his slugging fall, as his batting line finished at .245/.345/.298. He utilized his speed more, with 42 steals in 50 tries. He tied Derek Bryant for the Southern League lead in swipes.

Cador split 1977 between Savannah (.224/.293/.308 in 94 G, just 9 SB and 8 CS) and the Richmond Braves (6 for 53, 9 BB, 2 2B, 2 SB) to end his playing career.

Roger returned to Southern University as assistant coach for the 1977-1978 season, earning his master's degree while serving in that role. He was also assistant basketball coach for the school for 1980-1984. In 1984, he became head coach at Southern University.

In 33 seasons as the helm, Cador's clubs went 913-597-1. He has won the Southwestern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award 14 times. He became the first coach of a historically black university to win a game in the NCAA Division I Tournament, beating #2-ranked Cal State Fullerton 1-0 in 1987.

Cador \helped develop major leaguers Trenidad Hubbard, Dewon Day, Rickie Weeks, Jose De Leon and Fred Lewis.

Sources: Southern University bio, 1974-1978 Baseball Guides