Orlando Cepeda poses for a photograph in 1970. Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Child Bull” who turned a Corridor of Famer, has died. He was 86. AP/AP cover caption
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SAN FRANCISCO — Orlando Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Child Bull” who turned a Corridor of Famer and was 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 night time, and a second of silence was held as his photograph confirmed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park halfway via a sport towards the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Our beloved Orlando handed away peacefully at house this night, listening to his favourite music and surrounded by his family members,” his spouse, Nydia, mentioned in a press release launched via the workforce. “We take consolation that he’s at peace.”
It’s been a heartbreaking month for the Giants given Cepeda’s loss of life adopted that of Corridor of Famer Willie Mays, who died 10 days earlier on June 18 at age 93.
“Man, what one other intestine punch,” mentioned Giants supervisor Bob Melvin, who grew up within the Bay Space cheering for the workforce. “One other simply unbelievable persona and simply beloved right here. Statue out entrance. The numbers he put up, there are a number of legends right here and he’s definitely proper in the course of that. To have it so shut in proximity to Willie, it’s type of staggering.”
Cepeda was an everyday at Giants house video games via 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 mentioned. “We are going to miss his great smile at Corridor of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, the place his spirit will shine without end, and we lengthen our deepest sympathies to the Cepeda household.”
When the Purple Sox known 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 known as and requested me if I used to be occupied with being the DH, and I mentioned sure,” Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Related Press within the fortieth yr of the DH. “The DH received me to the Corridor of Fame. The rule received me to the Corridor of Fame.”
He didn’t know what it could imply for his profession, acknowledging, “I didn’t know something in regards to the DH.” The experiment labored out superbly for Cepeda, who performed in 142 video games that season — the second-to-last in a adorned 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 function as designated hitter. The Purple Sox had invited him for his or her first house sequence of the season however his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Collection champions on the identical time.
“It means quite a bit,” Cepeda mentioned then. “Wonderful. Once you suppose all the things’s completed, it’s solely the start.”
He mentioned 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 listing with a left knee harm. 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 below the brand new American League rule.
“They have been speaking about solely doing it for 3 years,” he mentioned. “And folks nonetheless don’t like the thought of the DH. They mentioned it wouldn’t final.”
The addition of the DH opened new alternatives for gamers corresponding to Cepeda and others from his period who might nonetheless produce on the plate late of their careers however 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 house 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 way in which to DH of the 12 months 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 have 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 high DH honors.
“It wasn’t straightforward for me to win the award,” Cepeda mentioned. “They’d some nice years.”
Cepeda knew little English when he arrived within the minor leagues within the mid-Nineteen Fifties, placing him among the many first wave of Spanish-speaking gamers thrown into a distinct tradition to play skilled baseball, construct new lives and ship a reimbursement house.
It was a chance to achieve a sport he liked, so long as daunting challenges off the sector may very well be overcome.
Early on, Cepeda was instructed by a supervisor to go house 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 things 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 mentioned, ‘I need 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 once I got here again right here, I needed to come again as a result of we didn’t haven’t any cash and my mom mentioned, ‘You’ve received to return and ship me cash, we don’t have cash to eat,’” he mentioned.
Cepeda had continued to be inspired watching so many younger gamers from Latin America arriving in the USA with higher English abilities, thanks largely to all 30 main league organizations placing extra emphasis into such coaching via academies within the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
There are also English lessons provided to younger gamers throughout spring coaching and into prolonged spring, plus via the varied ranges of the minor leagues.
“Orlando overcame challenges all through his life to construct a Corridor of Fame profession,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned in a press release. “This beloved determine from Puerto Rico was one of many many gamers of his period who helped flip baseball right into a multicultural sport.”
He had his troubles, too.
Cepeda was arrested in Might 2007 after being pulled him over for dashing when officers found medicine within the automobile.
The California Freeway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after discovering a “usable” quantity of a white-powder substance that seemingly was methamphetamine or cocaine, whereas marijuana and a syringe have 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 cause he was not elected to the Corridor of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Affiliation of America. Cepeda ultimately 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 Collection, Cepeda was the 1958 NL Rookie of the 12 months 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 house runs.
It wasn’t till after that 1973 season as DH that Cepeda might look again and respect all he had achieved that yr — together with the large half he performed in historical past and alter within the sport.
“I simply did it,” he mentioned of studying the DH. “Each day, I say to myself, how fortunate I’m to be born with the abilities to play ball.”
