Orlando Cepeda, Hall of Fame slugger nicknamed “Baby Bull,” dies at age 86

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Orlando Cepeda, the hard-hitting first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as one of the first Puerto Ricans to play in the major leagues, has died. He was 86.

The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night, and a moment of silence was observed as his photo was displayed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening while listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his wife Nydia said in a statement released through the team. “It is a comfort to us that he is resting in peace.”

Cepeda was a regular at the Giants’ home games during the 2017 season until he began to experience health problems. In February 2018, he was hospitalized in the Bay Area after suffering a heart attack.

One of the first Puerto Rican stars in the Major Leagues, although limited by knee problems, he became Boston’s first designated hitter and owes his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1999 to his time as a DH, selected by the Veterans Committee.

“Orlando Cepeda’s unwavering love of baseball was evident during his extraordinary playing career and later as one of the game’s enduring ambassadors,” said Hall of Fame Chair Jane Forbes Clark. “We will miss his beautiful smile at Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, where his spirit will forever shine, and we extend our deepest condolences to the Cepeda family.”

When the Red Sox called Cepeda in December 1972 and asked if he wanted to be their first designated hitter, the unemployed player immediately agreed.

“Boston called and asked me if I was interested in being a DH, and I said yes,” Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press in the DH’s 40th year. “The DH got me into the Hall of Fame. The rule got me into the Hall of Fame.”

Not knowing what it would mean for his career, he admitted, “I didn’t know anything about the DH.” The experiment worked wonderfully for Cepeda, who played 142 games that season – the second-to-last in a glittering 17-year major league career. The A’s had released Cepeda just months after signing him from Atlanta on June 29, 1972.

Cepeda was honored at a ceremony honoring his role as designated hitter on May 8, 2013, at Fenway Park. The Red Sox had invited him to their first home series of the season, but his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Series champions at the same time.

“This means a lot to me,” Cepeda said at the time. “It’s amazing. When you think it’s all over, it’s only the beginning.”

He said then-A’s owner Charlie Finley sent him a telegram telling him to call within 24 hours or he would be fired. Cepeda missed the deadline and was released in December 1972. He played in only three games for Oakland after the A’s signed him for pitcher Denny McLain. Cepeda was placed on the injured list because of a left knee injury. He had a total of ten knee surgeries and was out for four years.

Cepeda had been a first baseman and outfielder before being named to baseball’s first class of designated hitters under the American League’s new rules.

“They talked about doing it for only three years,” he said. “And people still don’t like the idea of ​​the DH. They said it wouldn’t last.”

The signing of the DH opened up new opportunities for players like Cepeda and others from his era who, while still able to score at the plate in their later careers, no longer played with the pinpoint defense of their best days in the field.

Cepeda was excited to get another chance.

He hit .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs in 1973 and started strong with a .333 average and five home runs in April. In August, he scored 23 runs and was named DH of the year. On August 8 in Kansas City, Cepeda hit four doubles.

“That was one of my best years,” Cepeda recalled, “because I played on one leg and had a .289 batting average. And I hit four doubles in one game. Both knees hurt and I was named Designated Hitter of the Year.”

Cepeda surpassed Baltimore’s Tommy Davis (.306, seven home runs, 89 RBIs) and Minnesota’s Tony Oliva (.291, 16 HRs, 92 RBIs) for the top DH award.

“It wasn’t easy for me to win the award,” Cepeda said. “They’ve had some great years.”

Cepeda also spoke little English when he entered the minor leagues in the mid-1950s, making him one of the first wave of Spanish-speaking players thrown into another culture to play professional baseball, build a new life for themselves and send money home.

It was a chance to succeed in a sport he loved, as long as he could handle the daunting challenges off the field.

Cepeda was soon instructed by a manager to return to Puerto Rico and learn English before resuming his career in the United States.

“When I came here my freshman year, everything was new to me, a surprise,” Cepeda recalled in an interview with the AP in 2014. “When I came to Virginia, I was there for a month and my father died. My father said, ‘I want to see my son play professional baseball,’ 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 had no money and my mother said, ‘You have to go back and send me money, we have no money to eat,'” he said.

Cepeda was further encouraged to see many young players from Latin America arriving in the United States with better English skills, largely because all 30 major leagues were placing greater emphasis on such training at academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

There are also English classes for young players during spring training and into the extended spring, as well as at various levels of the minor leagues.

He had his problems too.

Cepeda was arrested in May 2007 after being stopped for speeding because police discovered drugs in his car.

The California Highway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after finding a “useful” amount of an off-white powder substance likely to be methamphetamine or cocaine. Also discovered was marijuana and a syringe.

After his playing career ended, Cepeda was convicted of marijuana smuggling in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1976 and sentenced to five years in prison.

This belief was probably one of the reasons he was not elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cepeda was finally elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999.

Cepeda played first base during his 17 seasons in the major leagues, starting with the Giants. He also played for St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City. In the spring of 1969, Cepeda was traded by the Cardinals to the Braves in exchange for Joe Torre.

Cepeda was a seven-time All-Star and played in three World Series. He was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1958 in San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 in St. Louis. The city was saddened when he went to St. Louis in exchange for Torre. In 1961, Cepeda led the NL with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs. Cepeda had a career batting average of .297 and 379 home runs.

It was only after the 1973 season as DH that Cepeda was able to look back and appreciate what he had accomplished that year – and what a big role he had played in the history and changes of the sport.

“I just did it,” he said of learning to DH. “Every day I tell myself how lucky I am to have been born with the skills to play ball.”

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