Orlando Cepeda, a veteran pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, has passed away, the Giants announced Friday. He was 86 years old.
Cepeda, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 through the Veterans Affairs Committee, was one of the most feared sluggers of his generation and one of the forerunners of the great Puerto Rican baseball players. His death came just 10 days after the death of Willie Mays, who played nine seasons with the Giants.
The Giants announced his death with a moment of silence in the bottom of the sixth inning during their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dave Fleming and Mike Krukow announced the passing of another Giants legend, Orlando Cepeda.
“It just pains me to have to deliver yet another truly sad news. This is a really tough time for the Giants.”
“It’s hard to lose him. He had such a kind heart. He was such a good person.” pic.twitter.com/7CQpCJEcI0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 29, 2024
Cepeda retired in 1974 as one of the Giants’ greatest players, with an 11-time All-Star, National League MVP, World Series champion and Rookie of the Year award, but his post-retirement life was tainted by an arrest for allegedly smuggling 170 pounds of marijuana from Colombia to Puerto Rico.
Cepeda faced numerous legal problems and spent 10 months in prison, before spending the next few years trying to rehabilitate his image by returning to baseball as a scout, converting to Buddhism and working as a community ambassador for the Giants.
In 1994, in his final year of eligibility, he missed out on induction into the BBWAA Hall of Fame by nine votes, but five years later, thanks to the efforts of the Veterans Committee, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, becoming the second Puerto Rican to do so, after Roberto Clemente.
Orlando Cepeda was a star with the Giants and a champion with the Cardinals.
Cepeda grew up poor and entered the baseball world under the guidance of his father, a talented baseball player in Puerto Rico, but was unable to make it in the MLB due to racial discrimination.
He came to the United States in 1955 for a tryout with the New York Giants, who were then playing in New York. He did well, eventually joining the team’s Class D squad, but the start of his professional career was interrupted by the death of his father from malaria.
Cepeda spent his signing bonus on his funeral.
After three years in the minor leagues, Cepeda made his MLB debut in 1958, the Giants’ first season in San Francisco. He quickly rose to stardom as the league’s top rookie and established himself in the Giants’ lineup, often batting fifth behind Mays and Willie McCovey.
His career with the Giants came to an abrupt end when San Francisco traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals during a series against the Cardinals in 1966. The trade proved to be a huge benefit to St. Louis, who won 101 games and won the 1967 World Series. Despite the presence of Stan Musial and Bob Gibson, Cepeda was the unanimous MVP after batting .325/.399/.524 with 25 home runs and a league-high 25 RBI.
Cepeda took a major step back the following season, but the Cardinals still returned to the World Series in “The Year of the Pitcher”, losing to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. He was again abruptly traded the following season to the Atlanta Braves, where he played four seasons before finishing his career with one-year stints with the Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Royals.
