Orlando Cepeda, Baseball Hall of Famer, dies at age 86
“Our dear Orlando passed away quietly at home this evening, listening to his most loveless music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his wife, Nydia, said in a statement.
The Giants held a memorial service in memory of Cepeda during the team’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park on Friday night.
The “Baby Bull” Cepeda was an 11-time All-Star during his 17 seasons in the Major Leagues with six teams, including the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. Cepeda finished his career with a .297 average, 379 home runs and 1,365 RBI’s.
Cepeda debuted in the major leagues with the Giants in 1958 – the year they moved from New York to San Francisco. He finished his rookie season with a .312 batting average, 25 home runs and 96 RBI’s and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award. He played alongside the late Willie Mays for his first seven seasons and helped the Giants win the National League pennant in 1962 with a batting average of 181 hits, 32 home runs and 107 RBI’s per season, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“We have lost a true gentleman and legend,” Giants chairman Greg Johnson said in a statement. “Orlando was a great ambassador for the sport during his career and beyond. He was one of the all-time greatest Giants and he will be truly missed.”
Due to knee injuries, Cepeda missed most of the 1965 season and was traded to the Cardinals in 1966. In his first full-time season with the Cardinals in 1967, he led the National League with 111 RBI’s and was voted the unanimous NL MVP as the Cardinals won the World Series title.
Cepeda is one of two players in National League history to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP honors, unanimously.
After a successful season with the Cardinals, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in 1969 for future Hall of Famer Joe Torre. He played two seasons with the Braves, winning the 1969 NL West title, and was hampered by recurring knee injuries.
The Puerto Rican native had a successful time with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, where he hit 20 home runs and 86 RBI’s as the team’s first designated hitter. He ended his career in 1974 after a stint with the Kansas City Royals.
He was considered by many to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer when he was arrested at an airport in Puerto Rico in 1975 on suspicion of smuggling marijuana and was later convicted of possession and spent 10 months in prison.
He narrowly missed induction by voters into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 in his final year of eligibility, but was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999, becoming the second Puerto Rican player after Roberto Clemente in 1973, MLB reports.
The Giants retired his jersey number 30 that year and built a statue of him outside Oracle Park in 2008.
“What another blow,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said after Friday night’s game. “Another beautiful personality. Popular here, the statue out front. The numbers he put up. There are a lot of legends here. He was really in the middle of it. Close to Willie, that’s impressive.”
The team decided to create a special section in the Giants’ Hall of Fame to honor Cepeda’s outstanding career. Despite the challenges off the field, Cepeda’s contributions to baseball, especially in Major League Baseball, where he won two awards, will be forever celebrated.
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2024-06-30 11:19:24
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