Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Albuquerque baseball hall of fame class of 2022

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – Three new members were inducted into the Albuquerque Professional Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday night. Former Albuquerque Dukes Dave Stewart and Ron Cey joined the man who created the Dukes logo, Dick Moots for a ceremony prior to “Dukes Retro Night” at Isotopes Park.

“What it means for me is that I left a mark,” said Stewart. “I think its always an honor when people know that you are here, and that tonight stamps that.”

In addition to the pride of their professional accomplishments, all three inductees felt a special attachment to the city of Albuquerque even though it was just a stop along their careers. It has been 50 years since the Dukes were created, and these men helped make Albuquerque baseball what it is today.

“We came back in 1972 and opened the house for the triple-A franchise, the Albuquerque Dukes,” Cey said. “We led the league in attendance, we won the PCL Championship, and we played in the first ever triple-A World Series in Honolulu.”

“I’m amazed, I did that logo 50 years ago and I never dreamed it would still be around,” Moots said. “There’s no team anymore, but there’s still a Dukes logo in this town. It really worked out.”

Stewart played for the Dukes for two-plus seasons in the late 1970s and won 27 games during his time in Albuquerque. During his final season in the Duke City, 1980, Stewart led the Pacific Coast League with 15 wins en route to a PCL championship, while tossing 202 innings, which is the second most in franchise history. With the Dukes, he also compiled 230 strikeouts and threw 16 complete games.

Cey had a stint in the Land of Enchantment with both the Albuquerque Dodgers (1969-70) and Dukes (1972). In his lone season with the Dukes, Cey led the team in games played (142), hits (163) home runs (23), RBI (103) and walks (117) while hitting for a .329 average.

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