San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals nice Orlando Cepeda had died, the Giants introduced Friday. He was 86 years outdated.
Elected to the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame in 1999 through the veterans committee, Cepeda was among the many most-feared energy bats of his era and one of many first nice Puerto Rican baseball gamers. His loss comes solely 10 days after the dying of Willie Mays, with whom he starred on the Giants for 9 seasons.
The Giants introduced his dying throughout a sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a second of silence earlier than the sixth inning.
Dave Flemming and Mike Krukow announce the passing of one other legendary Large, Orlando Cepeda.
“It simply pains me to should move alongside extra actually unhappy information. What a troublesome time it’s for our Giants.”
“It hurts to lose him. He was such a mild soul. He was such a very good man.” pic.twitter.com/7CQpCJEcI0
— Terrible Saying (@awfulannouncing) June 29, 2024
Cepeda retired in 1974 with no scarcity of accomplishments. He was an 11-time All-Star, an NL MVP, a World Collection champion, a Rookie of the Yr and one of many Giants’ nice gamers. Nonetheless, his post-retirement life was marred when he was arrested on prices of transporting 170 kilos of marijuana from Columbia to Puerto Rico.
Dealing with no scarcity of authorized points, Cepeda spent 10 months in jail. He spent the subsequent a number of years rehabilitating his picture as he returned to baseball as a scout, transformed to Buddhism and labored for the Giants as a group ambassador.
After lacking out on Corridor of Fame enshrinement by 9 votes in his last 12 months of BBWAA eligibility in 1994, the veterans committee stepped up 5 years later to make him the second Puerto Rican to be inducted, becoming a member of Roberto Clemente.
Orlando Cepeda was a star with the Giants and a champion with the Cardinals
Cepeda entered baseball from humble origins, rising up poor in Puerto Rico with a father who was a very good baseball participant, however unable to try an MLB profession as a result of coloration line.
He traveled to the U.S. in 1955 to check out for the Giants, then taking part in in New York. It went properly sufficient that he ended up on the group’s Class D squad, however the begin of his skilled profession was interrupted by the dying of his father as a result of malaria.
Cepeda spent his signing bonus on the funeral.
After three years within the minors, Cepeda made his MLB debut in 1958, the Giants’ first season in San Francisco. He discovered stardom rapidly because the league’s high rookie and have become a fixture of the Giants’ lineup, typically batting fifth behind Mays and Willie McCovey.
That Giants profession abruptly resulted in 1966, when San Francisco traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals, throughout a collection in opposition to the Cardinals. That commerce paid off massive for St. Louis, which went on to win 101 video games and the 1967 World Collection. Even with Stan Musial and Bob Gibson aboard, it was Cepeda who gained MVP unanimously after slashing .325/.399/.524 with 25 homers and a league-best 25 RBI.
Cepeda took a significant step backward the subsequent season, however the Cardinals nonetheless returned to the World Collection within the “Yr of the Pitcher,” shedding to the Detroit Tigers in seven video games. He was abruptly traded once more the subsequent season to the Atlanta Braves, the place he performed 4 seasons earlier than ending out his profession with one-year stints on the Oakland Athletics, Boston Crimson Sox and Kansas Metropolis Royals.