Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda passes away at 86
He was not on the list.
Hall of Fame first baseman Orlando Cepeda, who left an
indelible stamp of excellence on two National League franchises during the
1960s, died Friday, the Giants announced. He was 86.
“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this
evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his
wife, Nydia, said in a statement released by the Giants. “We take comfort that
he is at peace.”
“Orlando Cepeda was one of the best hitters of his
generation. He starred for three historic National League franchises, and the
11-time All-Star played alongside Hall of Fame players throughout his
career," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "Orlando was
the 1958 National League Rookie of the Year when Major League Baseball debuted
in San Francisco, where later ‘The Baby Bull’s’ number 30 was retired. In 1967
he earned NL MVP honors during the St. Louis Cardinals’ World Championship
season.
“Orlando overcame challenges throughout his life to build a
Hall of Fame career. This beloved figure from Puerto Rico was one of the many
players of his era who helped turn baseball into a multicultural game. On
behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to his family,
his friends across our game, and his many fans in Puerto Rico, San Francisco,
St. Louis, Atlanta and beyond.”
“We lost a true gentleman and legend,” Giants chairman Greg
Johnson said. “Orlando was a great ambassador for the game throughout his
playing career and beyond. He was one of the all-time great Giants and he will
truly be missed. Our condolences go out to the Cepeda family for their
tremendous loss and we extend our thoughts to Orlando’s teammates, his friends,
and to all those touched by his passing.”
“This is truly a sad day for the San Francisco Giants,’’
Giants president and chief executive officer Larry Baer said. “For all of
Orlando’s extraordinary baseball accomplishments, it was his generosity,
kindness and joy that defined him. No one loved the game more. Our heartfelt
condolences go out to his wife, Nydia, his five children, Orlando, Jr.,
Malcolm, Ali, Carl and Hector, his nine grandchildren, his one great
granddaughter as well as his extended family and friends.”
Cepeda emerged as a key figure as baseball became a
coast-to-coast pastime when the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moved to
San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, before the 1958 season.
Traded to St. Louis during the 1966 season, "The Baby
Bull" won the National League Most Valuable Player award the following
year and was heavily responsible for the Cardinals' back-to-back
pennant-winning seasons in 1967-68.
Legend has it that Giants player-coach Whitey Lockman
approached manager Bill Rigney during big league camp in Spring Training 1958
and said of Cepeda, "Too bad the kid's a year away."
"Away from what?" Rigney asked.
"From the Hall of Fame," replied Lockman, aware
that Cepeda had not yet played a regular-season game in the Majors.
Cepeda excelled immediately. He earned NL Rookie of the Year
honors following the Giants' inaugural season in California, when he hit .312
with 25 home runs, 96 RBIs and an NL-high 38 doubles.
Cepeda remained one of baseball's most ferocious hitters. He
totaled at least 24 homers in each of his first seven seasons (1958-64) with
the Giants. His 222 home runs during this span ranked 10th in the Major
Leagues. Among the few who eclipsed Cepeda's total were seven sluggers who
ultimately surpassed the 500-homer plateau: Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, Hank
Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson and Eddie Mathews.
"What another gut punch," Giants manager Bob
Melvin said. "Another incredible personality. Just beloved here, the
statue out front. The numbers he put up. There are a lot of legends here. He
was certainly right in the middle of that. To have it so close in proximity to
Willie, it’s kind of staggering."
The genial Cepeda quickly became a fan favorite in San
Francisco. To a degree, his popularity developed at the expense of Mays, the
incomparable center fielder who drew scorn from provincially minded fans simply
because he came from New York with the franchise. By contrast, those same fans
viewed Cepeda as one of their own because he and the ballclub arrived in San
Francisco simultaneously. His enthusiasm for San Francisco night life,
particularly jazz clubs, further endeared him to the public.
The second native of Puerto Rico to be elected to the Hall
of Fame, after Roberto Clemente, Cepeda also was at the forefront of the
growing presence of Latin American athletes in the Majors. Given sports'
tendency to imitate life and America's turbulent race relations in the '60s,
Cepeda occasionally found himself in unpleasant situations. In a game against
Cincinnati, Cepeda and Giants teammate Jose Pagan were on base discussing
strategy in Spanish. The pitcher hollered, "Speak English. You're in America
now." Cepeda retorted, "English? OK," followed by a couple of
expletives.
As the '60s elapsed, the Giants encountered a rare problem:
Possessing too much talent. They struggled to find ways to keep Cepeda in the
lineup along with Willie McCovey, another power-hitting first baseman. McCovey
captured NL Rookie of the Year honors in 1959, one year after Cepeda.
McCovey performed erratically during the following two
seasons. But after he hit 20 homers in only 262 plate appearances in 1962, the
Giants realized that they couldn't keep him on the bench. McCovey started 130
games in left field in 1963 and tied for the NL lead with 44 homers.
A lingering knee injury limited Cepeda to 40 plate
appearances in 33 games in 1965. Always seeking pitching depth to complement
their powerful lineups, the Giants shipped Cepeda to St. Louis for left-hander
Ray Sadecki on May 8, 1966.
Many Giants fans regard the trade as the worst one in the
club's history. Sadecki, a 20-game winner in 1964, went 3-7 for the Giants in
'66 as they finished 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL
standings. One year later, Cepeda was the league's unanimous choice for MVP as
he hit .325 with 25 homers and 111 RBIs for the Cardinals, who finished 10 1/2
games in front of the second-place Giants. St. Louis proceeded to edge Boston
in a seven-game World Series.
Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver recalled waiting on the team
bus before a ride to New York's Shea Stadium for a ballgame. Every member of
the team was aboard except for Cepeda. The bus was about to depart when Bob
Gibson, the team's ace right-hander and a future Hall of Famer, ordered the
driver to halt. Said Gibson, who was pitching that day, "This bus isn't
going anywhere without Orlando" -- a tribute to Cepeda's presence in the
lineup.
Despite the respect Cepeda commanded, St. Louis dealt him to
Atlanta on March 17, 1969, for third baseman Joe Torre. Cepeda's first two
seasons in Atlanta were productive ones. He amassed 22 homers and 88 RBIs to
help Atlanta win the NL West in 1969, then batted .305 with 34 homers and 111
RBIs in 1970.
Cepeda had one more big year left in him. One of the first
players to serve exclusively as a designated hitter, Cepeda took advantage of
its inception in 1973 to hit .289 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs for Boston. He was
named the American League's Designated Hitter of the Year. Cepeda retired after
the 1974 season, when he hit .215 with one homer and 18 RBIs for Kansas City.
His statistics in a career that spanned 17 seasons featured a .297 batting
average, 379 home runs, 1,365 RBIs, a .350 on-base percentage and a .499
slugging percentage.
"He was a gentleman," said Dodgers manager Dave
Roberts, whose team was playing in San Francisco when the Giants announced
Cepeda's death. "I don't think there's anyone in baseball that can say a
bad word about Orlando. To lose two baseball greats, two great Giants ... there
was a somberness in the stadium tonight."
Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes was born on Sept. 17, 1937, in
Ponce, Puerto Rico. His father, Pedro, nicknamed Perucho, gained renown as a
professional ballplayer in a Puerto Rican league. Inevitably drawn to baseball,
the younger Cepeda joined the Giants organization as one of the many Latin
American players discovered by famed scout Alex Pompez.
Originally signed as a third baseman entering the 1955
season, Cepeda moved across the diamond one year later. This was far from the
most challenging transition he faced. Like most Latin American players, Cepeda
did not speak English; nor did he understand the racist Jim Crow laws in effect
throughout most southern Minor League towns -- including Salem, Va., where the
Giants initially sent him. He was transferred to another Class D squad in
Kokomo and finished the season with a .364 batting average, 22 homers and 91
RBIs overall. Promoted to Class C the next year, Cepeda won the Northwest
League Triple Crown with a .355 batting average, 26 homers and 112 RBIs. Though
he spent another year in the Minors, he was clearly ready for the big leagues.
Cepeda wasn't blindly grateful to the Giants. He clashed
with general manager Chub Feeney over his salary and with manager Alvin Dark
over his insistence that Latin players speak English in the clubhouse.
In 1978, Cepeda was convicted of marijuana possession, a
charge stemming from a 1975 incident. He spent 10 months of a five-year
sentence in a Puerto Rican jail before serving the rest of his sentence on
probation.
Cepeda rejoined the Giants organization after attending a
1987 fantasy camp. He scouted for the organization in Latin American countries
before returning to northern California to serve the team in community
relations, a post he held until his death.
Cepeda became eligible for election to the Hall of Fame in
1980. He never came close to receiving the 75 percent of the electorate needed
for induction until 1994, his final year on the ballot, when the Giants and
other supporters launched a campaign on his behalf. He received a vote total of
73.5 percent, seven votes shy of election. The Veterans Committee elected him
to Cooperstown in 1999.
That same year, the Giants retired Cepeda's jersey number,
30. On Sept. 6, 2008, the club unveiled and dedicated a nine-foot-tall statue
of Cepeda outside of Oracle Park. Unlike the sculptures of the other San
Francisco-era Hall of Famers, who are depicted hitting or throwing, Cepeda's
bronze image is standing and smiling, about to throw a ball for a game of
catch.
In 1967 he hit a career-high .325 with 25 home runs and a
league-leading 111 RBI, carrying the team to the NL pennant; he won the MVP
Award, again by unanimous vote. Another trade brought him to the Atlanta
Braves, and he helped that team win the inaugural West Division title in 1969.
Cepeda's 254 home runs and 896 RBI in the 1960s each ranked fifth among NL
hitters. With his play increasingly limited by knee problems, he switched to
the American League shortly before its adoption of the designated hitter, and
won the first Outstanding Designated Hitter Award with the Boston Red Sox in
1973 before his career came to an end the following year.
In 1955, Zorilla persuaded Cepeda's family to
purchase an airplane ticket so that he could participate in a New York Giants
tryout. After passing the tryout, he was assigned by the Giants to Sandersville,
a Class D team. Cepeda was subsequently transferred to the Salem Rebels, but he
had trouble adapting because he did not speak English. He also encountered
discrimination due to racial segregation under the Jim Crow laws.Shortly after
this move, Zorilla called to inform him that his father was in critical
condition. Pedro Cepeda died a few days later; Orlando paid the burial expenses
and returned to Salem. He was depressed, which affected his performance. He
wanted to quit and return to Puerto Rico, but Zorilla convinced him to play for
the Kokomo Giants, a team in the Mississippi–Ohio Valley League. Walt Dixon,
the team's manager, assigned him to play third base. Cepeda batted in the
cleanup spot, finishing with a .393 average, hitting 21 home runs with 91 RBI.
Jim Tobin, who owned his contract, noticed his potential and sold his player's
rights back to the Giants. After a visit to Puerto Rico, Cepeda returned to New
York before being sent to play with St. Cloud in Class C. The team re-assigned
him to play first base. Cepeda adapted to the change quickly. That year, he won
the Northern League Triple Crown, finishing with an average of .355 with 112
RBIs and 26 home runs. Jack Schwarz promoted him to Class B, a decision that he
protested, noting that players with worse performance were being sent to Double
A. Following a solid season in Class B, Cepeda played for the Crabbers in the
Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League (LBPPR) during the winter, concluding
with a batting average of .310, 11 home runs and 40 RBIs. He then signed a
Class A contract with Springfield, accepting it on condition that he be allowed
to play with the Minneapolis Millers in spring training. Cepeda had a slow
start, but his performance improved as the season advanced, and the team
retained him in their roster. After completing the 1957 season with the
Millers, he returned to Puerto Rico and played in the LBPPR. While he was
playing with Santurce, manager Bill Rigney, team owner Horace Stoneham and Tom
Sheehan scouted him on behalf of the Giants, who had just moved from New York
to San Francisco. He was invited to the team's spring training along with other
prospects, including Felipe Alou and Willie Kirkland.
Teams
San Francisco Giants (1958–1966)
St. Louis Cardinals (1966–1968)
Atlanta Braves (1969–1972)
Oakland Athletics (1972)
Boston Red Sox (1973)
Kansas City Royals (1974)
Career highlights and awards
11× All-Star (1959–1964, 1967)
World Series champion (1967)
NL MVP (1967)
NL Rookie of the Year (1958)
NL home run leader (1961)
2× NL RBI leader (1961, 1967)
San Francisco Giants No. 30 retired
San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame
