Orlando Cepeda

Orlando Cepeda
Cepeda with the San Francisco Giants in 1965
First baseman
Born: (1937-09-17)September 17, 1937 Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died: June 28, 2024(2024-06-28) (aged 86) Concord, California, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 1958, for the San Francisco Giants
Last MLB appearance
September 19, 1974, for the Kansas City Royals
MLB statistics
Batting average	.297
Hits	2,351
Home runs	379
Runs batted in	1,365
Stats at Baseball Reference
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
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1999
Election method	Veterans Committee

Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes (Spanish pronunciation: [oɾˈlando seˈpeða]; September 17, 1937 – June 28, 2024), nicknamed "the Baby Bull" and "Peruchin", was a Puerto Rican first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for six teams from 1958 to 1974, primarily the San Francisco Giants. An 11-time All-Star, Cepeda was one of the most consistent power hitters in the National League (NL) through the 1960s and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Breaking in with the Giants in their first season after relocating to San Francisco, he was named the NL Rookie of the Year by unanimous vote in 1958. Every year from 1958 through 1963, he was among the league leaders in batting, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, and total bases. In 1959, he became the first Puerto Rican player to start an All-Star Game, and in 1961 he was runner-up in voting for the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) after leading the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs, which remains the club record for right-handed hitters. In the ensuing years, the Giants struggled to fit both Cepeda and teammate Willie McCovey, also a first basemen, into their lineup, unsuccessfully trying to shift each of them to left field at different points.

After longstanding knee injuries forced Cepeda to miss most of the 1965 season, limiting him to pinch hitting duties, he was traded in May 1966 to the St. Louis Cardinals, coming back to finish the year with a .301 average. In 1967, Cepeda in helping the team to the NL pennant, won the MVP Award by unanimous vote. Another trade brought him to the Atlanta Braves, and he helped that team win the inaugural NL West division title in 1969. With his play increasingly limited by knee problems, he was traded 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.

Cepeda struggled in his personal life after the end of his career. After a 1975 arrest for transporting marijuana from Colombia to Puerto Rico, he served ten months in prison and saw his reputation ruined on his home island. Following changes in his personal life, however, he repaired his image after being contracted by the Giants in 1987 to work as a scout and goodwill ambassador, beginning decades of humanitarian work.