Cepeda Baseball — Biography

Born on September 17, 1937 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Orlando "Peruchin - The Baby Bull" Cepeda, son of legendary Puerto Rican baseball star Pedro Perucho "The Bull" Cepeda, signed by Pete Zorilla in 1955 for Santurce Baseball Club. That same year, he went to a tryout held by the New York Giants and signed for $500.00. In the Minor Leagues he played with Salem, Kokomo, St. Cloud, and Minneapolis. Cepeda was only 20 years old when he arrived to the Major Leagues in 1958.

In his first Major League game, this Latino powerhouse homered to help beat Don Drysdale and the Dodgers. It was a picture perfect beginning to a spectacular career that includes nine .300 seasons and eight seasons of 25 or more homers.

As a rookie in 1958, Cepeda belted 25 homers, led the National League with a 38 doubles, knocked in 96 runs and batted .312. Those numbers won Cepeda Rookie of the Year honors for the San Francisco Giants and his manager for the first two years, Bill Rigney called him "The best young right-handed power hitter I've ever seen."

Despite being a fan favorite in San Francisco which made him as popular as Willie Mays, Cepeda's conflicts with management bounced him to the St. Louis Cardinals in mid-1966. First baseman Orlando Cepeda was now "Cha-Cha" in St. Louis because of his constant love & desire to bring a stereo to the club house to share his beloved salsa music.

Respecting Cepeda's taste turned him into the 1967 MVP by hitting .325 and driving in 111 RBIs. After leading the Cardinals to a pennant in 1967, they went on to become world champions by beating the Boston Red Sox in a 7-game series. Cepeda appeared in three world series, with a seven-time All-Star (1959-64, 67) and was the National League MVP in 1967 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Cepeda was also known to get that clutch hit or home run to knock in winning runs late in the game. He homered against 187 different pitchers, with Milwaukee Braves teammates Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette his favorite targets (10 homers apiece). No wonder Burdette called Cepeda "the toughest hitter I ever faced."

After his retirement in 1975, Cepeda was recognized nationally for his humanitarian efforts as an ambassador for baseball. The Ponce, Puerto Rican native served as honorary spokesman for the Crohn's and Colitis foundation of America, and participates in "Athletes against Aids." Cepeda has helped raise more than $10,000 for baseball equipment for the Roberto Clemente Latin America Club's Baseball League in the mission district.

In 1993, Cepeda was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame, but just missed being voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by a mere seven votes. The fifth narrowest margin a player ever missed being inducted in baseball history.

Of the 18 retired players who have hit more than 300 homers and batted over .295 for their career, only Cepeda wasn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame until March of 1999, when Cepeda along with Nolan Ryan, Nobin Yount and George Brett were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Orlando Cepeda joins the late Roberto Clemente as the only Puerto Ricans in the Hall of Fame.

During the press conference/celebration in San Francisco, Cepeda, now 62, was handed roses, a glass of champagne and a jersey with "Hall of Fame" written on it. The room was filled with balloons and a Latin song blasting through the speakers entitled "Viva Cepeda." "It's hard to explain the feeling when they told me I was selected in the Hall of Fame," Cepeda said at 3com park in San Francisco. "I've been ready for this for 17 years. I've been through good things, bad things, but I was blessed to be born with the talent to play baseball." said Cepeda. The newly elected Hall of Famer also got another reward - the Giants will retire his No. 30 uniform, making him only the ninth player in franchise history to be honored.

The day he's been waiting for came on July 25, 1999, when Cepeda was welcomed by Commissioner Bud Selig to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cepeda got a big cheer from the huge crowd when he was introduced and approached the podium. He knew that finally his dream has come true.

His speech was a brief 10-15 minutes, but his message was loud and clear, "I'm proud to be a Puerto Rican and I will be a role model to the people of my country".

Cepeda is only the sixth Hispanic and the only living Puerto Rican in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

HIGHLIGHT OF ORLANDO'S TREMENDOUS CAREER:

Performance in the United States
Minor Leagues

  • In 1956, at age 19, won Batting Triple Crown with St. Cloud (Class C). Only Puerto Rican player to do it in organized baseball.

Major Leagues

  • Rookie of the year (1958). Selected unanimously-second in history.
  • Leader in doubles (38) in 1958.
  • One of two Puerto Rican's (the other, Pedro Garcia) to lead an offensive category (doubles) in his rookie year.
  • Leader in Home Runs (46) in RBI's (142) in 1962.
  • First Latino to hit 40 homeruns and over 140 RBI's.
  • Comeback of the Year in 1966.
  • RBI leader (111) in 1967.
  • MVP in 1967 (selected unanimously). First and only player in Major League history to be selected for ROY and MVP unanimously.
  • Homered three times in a game (July 26, 1970)
  • Designated Batter of the Year in 1973 (first in Major League History).
  • Hit four doubles in a game (1973)
  • Only Puerto Rican selected to an All-Star Game in two positions (OF and 1B).
  • Played in 7 All-Star Games and 2 World Series.
  • Batted .300+ nine times.
  • 9 Grand Slams lifetime (tied with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, among others).
  • One of two players to have more homers than Hank Aaron in their first seven years. Frank Robinson (241), Orlando Cepeda (222), and Hank Aaron (219).
  • One of ten players with 100+ RBI's with three different teams.
  • .297 Lifetime average; 2,351 Hits; 417 Doubles; 27 Triples; 379 Homeruns; 1,365 Runs Batted In; .499 Slugging; 3,959 Total Bases; 1,131 Runs.
  • Only Latino and one of ten players to hit .300 and 30+ homers in four consecutive seasons. The others are Babe Ruth, Hack Wilson, Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein, Jimmy Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Kluszewski.
  • One of fourteen players to hit 30+ homers more times between 21 and 26 years of age.
  • Only Puerto Rican in organized baseball to hit .300+ in nine of his first ten seasons. The one season he missed, he hit .297.
  • Played 17 years in the Major Leagues with San Francisco (1958-1966); St. Louis (1966-1968); Atlanta (1968-1972); Oakland (1972); Boston (1973); and Kansas City (1974).
  • His number (30) was retired by the San Francisco Giants.

Performance in Puerto Rico

  • 1957 - 1958 Season Leader in Home Runs (13), RBI's (53); Slugging (.571); Hits (72); and Runs (49).
  • 1958 - 1959 Season Leader in Batting (.362); Slugging (.623); Doubles (15); Runs (49); and Most Valuable Player.
  • Batted .415 in 1960-1961 season.
  • 1961 - 1962 Season Leader in Home Runs (19); RBI's (53); Slugging (.600); and Most Valuable Player.
  • Batted .300+ eleven times (most in the League), nine of them consecutively (most in the League, tied with Juan "Tetelo" Vargas and Francisco Coimbre).
  • Only Puerto Rican player with .500+ lifetime Slugging (second all-time list behind Willard Brown).
  • Second best HR Ratio in the League (1 HR per 20.78 AB).
  • MVP two times (1958 - 1589 and 1961 - 1962).
  • Youngest player to be leader in Hits (21); Doubles (21); RBI's (20); Runs (20); Homeruns (20); Slugging (20); Most Valuable Player (21); batted .400+ (23); and hit for the cycle (20).
  • Coach for Bayamón and Santurce Clubs.
  • Winner of the Pedrín Zorrilla Award.
  • His number (30) was retired by Santurce.
  • Pedro and Orlando Cepeda, are the first combination of Father and Son to be Batting Leader in Puerto Rican Baseball. In addition, both were included in the Puerto Rico All Star Century Team, Orlando at first base and Pedro at short stop.
  • 2001 Ernie Banks Positive Image - Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.

Hall of Fame
Orlando has been enshrined twelve times, most in Puerto Rico sports history.

  • San Francisco Bay Hall of Fame (1990)
  • Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame (1991)
  • Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame (1993)
  • Latin American Sports Hall of Fame - Laredo, Nuevo Méjico (1995)
  • Santurce Sports Hall of Fame (1997)
  • National Baseball Hall of Fame (1999)
  • Missouri Sports Hall of Fame (2000)
  • Guayama Sports Hall of Fame (2000)
  • Ponce Sports Hall of Fame (2001)
  • Cataño Sports Hall of Fame (2002)
  • Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame (2002)
  • African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame (2007)

In 2006, the Society for Baseball Research Chapter in Puerto Rico, was named after him.

Research: Jorge Colón Delgado
Official Historian of the Puerto Rico Baseball League

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