SAN FRANCISCO — Orlando Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who become a Hall of Famer amongst the early Puerto Ricans to famous person in the main leagues, has died. He was once 86.
The San Francisco Giants and his circle of relatives introduced the dying Friday night time and a second of silence was once held as his photograph confirmed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park halfway thru a recreation towards the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his spouse, Nydia, mentioned in a observation launched thru the crew. “We take comfort that he is at peace.”
Cepeda was once an ordinary at Giants house video games thru the 2017 season till he handled some well being demanding situations. He was once hospitalized in the Bay Area in February 2018 following a cardiac match.
One of the first Puerto Rican stars in the majors however restricted by way of knee problems, he become Boston’s first designated hitter and credit his time as a DH for purchasing him enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1999 as decided on by way of the Veteran’s Committee.
“Orlando Cepeda’s unabashed love for the game of baseball sparkled during his extraordinary playing career, and later as one of the game’s enduring ambassadors,” Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark mentioned. “We will miss his wonderful smile at Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, where his spirit will shine forever, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the Cepeda family.”
When the Red Sox known as Cepeda in December 1972 to inquire whether or not he’d love to be their first designated hitter, the unemployed participant authorized on the spot.
“Boston called and asked me if I was interested in being the DH, and I said yes,” Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press in the fortieth yr of the DH. “The DH got me to the Hall of Fame. The rule got me to the Hall of Fame.”
He didn’t know what it will imply for his profession, acknowledging, “I didn’t know anything about the DH.”” The experiment worked out beautifully for Cepeda, who played in 142 games that season — the second-to-last in a decorated 17-year major league career. The A’s had released Cepeda only months after acquiring him from Atlanta on June 29, 1972.
Cepeda was celebrated at Fenway Park on May 8, 2013, for a ceremony celebrating his role as designated hitter. The Red Sox had invited him for their first home series of the season but his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Series champions at the same time.
“It approach so much,” Cepeda said then. “Amazing. When you suppose the whole lot’s completed, it’s best the starting.”
He said then-A’s owner Charlie Finley sent him a telegram to call him within a 24-hour period or he’d be released. Cepeda didn’t meet the deadline and was let go in December 1972. He played in only three games for Oakland after the A’s acquired him for pitcher Denny McLain. Cepeda was placed on the disabled list with a left knee injury. He had 10 knee operations in all, sidelining him four different years.
Cepeda had been a first baseman and outfielder before joining the first class of baseball’s designated hitters under the new American League rule.
“They had been speaking about best doing it for 3 years,” he said. “And other people nonetheless don’t like the thought of the DH. They mentioned it wouldn’t final.”
The addition of the DH opened new opportunities for players such as Cepeda and others from his era who could still produce at the plate late in their careers but no longer played the field with the spot-on defense of their primes.
Cepeda was thrilled to have another chance.
He hit .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs in 1973, starting off strongly with a .333 average and five homers in April. He drove in 23 runs in August on the way to DH of the Year honors. On Aug. 8 at Kansas City, Cepeda hit four doubles.
“That was once one of the perfect years,” Cepeda recalled, “as a result of I used to be taking part in on one leg and I hit .289. And I hit 4 doubles in a single recreation. Both 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 top D.H. honors.
“It wasn’t simple for me to win the award,” Cepeda said. “They had some nice years.”
Cepeda also knew little English when he arrived in the minor leagues in the mid-1950s, putting him among the first wave of Spanish-speaking players thrown into a different culture to play professional baseball, build new lives and send money back home.
It was an opportunity to succeed in a sport he loved, as long as daunting challenges off the field could be overcome.
Early on, Cepeda was told by a manager to go home to Puerto Rico and learn English before coming back to his career in the U.S.
“Coming right here my first yr, the whole lot was once a novelty to me, a wonder,” Cepeda recalled in a 2014 interview with the AP. “When I came to Virginia, I was there for one month and my father died. My dad said, ‘I want to see my son play pro ball,’ and he died the day before I played my first game in Virginia.”
“From there I went to Puerto Rico and when I came back here, I had to come back because we didn’t have no money and my mother said, ‘You’ve got to go back and send me money, we don’t have money to eat,'” he mentioned.
Cepeda had persisted to be inspired gazing such a lot of younger gamers from Latin America arriving in the United States with higher English talents, thank you largely to all 30 main league organizations striking extra emphasis into such coaching thru academies in the Dominican and Venezuela.
There are also English categories presented to younger gamers right through spring coaching and into prolonged spring, plus thru the quite a lot of ranges of the minor leagues.
He had his troubles, too.
Cepeda was once arrested in May 2007 after being pulled him over for rushing when officials found out medication in the automotive.
The California Highway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after discovering a “usable” quantity of a white-powder substance that most probably was once methamphetamine or cocaine, whilst marijuana and a syringe had been additionally found out.
After his taking part in profession ended, Cepeda was once convicted in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of smuggling marijuana and sentenced to 5 years in jail.
That conviction was once most likely one explanation why he was once now not elected to the Hall of Fame by way of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cepeda in the end was once elected by way of the Veterans Committee in 1999.
Cepeda performed first base right through his 17 seasons in the majors, starting with the Giants. He additionally hung out with St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City. In the spring of 1969, Cepeda was once traded by way of the Cardinals to the Braves for Joe Torre.
A seven-time All-Star who performed in 3 World (*86*), Cepeda was once the 1958 NL Rookie of the Year with San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 with St. Louis, a town unhappy to look him pass in that business that introduced Torre to the town. In 1961, Cepeda led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs. Cepeda was once a .297 profession hitter with 379 house runs.
It wasn’t till after that 1973 season as DH that Cepeda may glance again and respect all he had completed that yr — in conjunction with the giant phase he performed in historical past and alter in the game.
“I just did it,” he mentioned of studying the DH. “Every day, I say to myself, how lucky I am to be born with the skills to play ball.”
