SAN FRANCISCO — Orlando Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Child Bull” who turned a Corridor of Famer among the many early Puerto Ricans to star within the main leagues, has died. He was 86.
The San Francisco Giants and his household introduced the loss of life Friday evening and a second of silence was held as his photograph confirmed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park halfway by means of a sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Our beloved Orlando handed away peacefully at residence this night, listening to his favourite music and surrounded by his family members,” his spouse, Nydia, stated in a press release launched by means of the crew. “We take consolation that he’s at peace.”
Cepeda was an everyday at Giants residence video games by means of the 2017 season till he handled some well being challenges. He was hospitalized within the Bay Space in February 2018 following a cardiac occasion.
One of many first Puerto Rican stars within the majors however restricted by knee points, he turned Boston’s first designated hitter and credit his time as a DH for getting him enshrined into the Corridor of Fame in 1999 as chosen by the Veteran’s Committee.
“Orlando Cepeda’s unabashed love for the sport of baseball sparkled throughout his extraordinary enjoying profession, and later as one of many sport’s enduring ambassadors,” Corridor of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark stated. “We are going to miss his great smile at Corridor of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, the place his spirit will shine ceaselessly, and we lengthen our deepest sympathies to the Cepeda household.”
When the Crimson Sox referred to as Cepeda in December 1972 to inquire whether or not he’d wish to be their first designated hitter, the unemployed participant accepted on the spot.
“Boston referred to as and requested me if I used to be excited by being the DH, and I stated sure,” Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Related Press within the fortieth yr of the DH. “The DH acquired me to the Corridor of Fame. The rule acquired me to the Corridor of Fame.”
He didn’t know what it might imply for his profession, acknowledging, “I didn’t know something concerning the DH.”” The experiment labored out fantastically for Cepeda, who performed in 142 video games that season — the second-to-last in a embellished 17-year main league profession. The A’s had launched Cepeda solely months after buying him from Atlanta on June 29, 1972.
Cepeda was celebrated at Fenway Park on Might 8, 2013, for a ceremony celebrating his position as designated hitter. The Crimson Sox had invited him for his or her first residence collection of the season however his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Sequence champions on the identical time.
“It means quite a bit,” Cepeda stated then. “Superb. Once you suppose all the pieces’s completed, it’s solely the start.”
He stated then-A’s proprietor Charlie Finley despatched him a telegram to name him inside a 24-hour interval or he’d be launched. Cepeda didn’t meet the deadline and was let go in December 1972. He performed in solely three video games for Oakland after the A’s acquired him for pitcher Denny McLain. Cepeda was positioned on the disabled record with a left knee damage. He had 10 knee operations in all, sidelining him 4 totally different years.
Cepeda had been a primary baseman and outfielder earlier than becoming a member of the primary class of baseball’s designated hitters beneath the brand new American League rule.
“They had been speaking about solely doing it for 3 years,” he stated. “And folks nonetheless don’t like the concept of the DH. They stated it wouldn’t final.”
The addition of the DH opened new alternatives for gamers akin to Cepeda and others from his period who might nonetheless produce on the plate late of their careers however now not performed the sector with the spot-on protection of their primes.
Cepeda was thrilled to have one other probability.
He hit .289 with 20 residence runs and 86 RBIs in 1973, beginning off strongly with a .333 common and 5 homers in April. He drove in 23 runs in August on the best way to DH of the Yr honors. On Aug. 8 at Kansas Metropolis, Cepeda hit 4 doubles.
“That was the most effective years,” Cepeda recalled, “as a result of I used to be enjoying on one leg and I hit .289. And I hit 4 doubles in a single sport. Each my knees had been hurting, and I used to be designated hitter of the yr.”
Cepeda topped Baltimore’s Tommy Davis (.306, seven homers, 89 RBIs) and Minnesota’s Tony Oliva (.291, 16 HRs, 92 RBIs) for prime D.H. honors.
“It wasn’t simple for me to win the award,” Cepeda stated. “They’d some nice years.”
Cepeda additionally knew little English when he arrived within the minor leagues within the mid-Fifties, placing him among the many first wave of Spanish-speaking gamers thrown into a special tradition to play skilled baseball, construct new lives and ship a reimbursement residence.
It was a chance to reach a sport he cherished, so long as daunting challenges off the sector might be overcome.
Early on, Cepeda was advised by a supervisor to go residence to Puerto Rico and study English earlier than coming again to his profession within the U.S.
“Coming right here my first yr, all the pieces was a novelty to me, a shock,” Cepeda recalled in a 2014 interview with the AP. “After I got here to Virginia, I used to be there for one month and my father died. My dad stated, ‘I wish to see my son play professional ball,’ and he died the day earlier than I performed my first sport in Virginia.”
“From there I went to Puerto Rico and after I got here again right here, I needed to come again as a result of we didn’t don’t have any cash and my mom stated, ‘You’ve acquired to return and ship me cash, we don’t have cash to eat,'” he stated.
Cepeda had continued to be inspired watching so many younger gamers from Latin America arriving in america with higher English expertise, thanks largely to all 30 main league organizations placing extra emphasis into such coaching by means of academies within the Dominican and Venezuela.
There are also English courses supplied to younger gamers throughout spring coaching and into prolonged spring, plus by means of the assorted ranges of the minor leagues.
He had his troubles, too.
Cepeda was arrested in Might 2007 after being pulled him over for rushing when officers found medication within the automobile.
The California Freeway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after discovering a “usable” quantity of a white-powder substance that possible was methamphetamine or cocaine, whereas marijuana and a syringe had been additionally found.
After his enjoying profession ended, Cepeda was convicted in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of smuggling marijuana and sentenced to 5 years in jail.
That conviction was in all probability one purpose he was not elected to the Corridor of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America. Cepeda finally was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999.
Cepeda performed first base throughout his 17 seasons within the majors, starting with the Giants. He additionally hung out with St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas Metropolis. Within the spring of 1969, Cepeda was traded by the Cardinals to the Braves for Joe Torre.
A seven-time All-Star who performed in three World Sequence, Cepeda was the 1958 NL Rookie of the Yr with San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 with St. Louis, a metropolis unhappy to see him go in that commerce that introduced Torre to city. In 1961, Cepeda led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs. Cepeda was a .297 profession hitter with 379 residence runs.
It wasn’t till after that 1973 season as DH that Cepeda might look again and respect all he had completed that yr — together with the large half he performed in historical past and alter within the sport.
“I simply did it,” he stated of studying the DH. “Daily, I say to myself, how fortunate I’m to be born with the abilities to play ball.”