SAN FRANCISCO — For the second time in as many weeks, the Giants lost a legend.
Orlando Cepeda, the 11-time All-Star inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1999, died Friday at the age of 86, his wife, Nydia, said in a statement released by the Giants.
“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” Nydia said. “We take comfort that he is at peace.”
Cepeda’s death was announced between the fifth and sixth innings of the Giants’ game Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the crowd on hand honored the “Baby Bull” with a moment of silence. Giants players were taking the field for the top of the sixth, and many stopped and removed their caps.
Many Giants players also learned of Willie Mays’ death last week when it was announced between innings at Wrigley Field.
“Man, what another gut punch,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin, who grew up in the Bay Area cheering for the team. “Another just incredible personality and just beloved here. Statue out front. The numbers he put up, there are a lot of legends here and he’s certainly right in the middle of that. To have it so close in proximity to Willie, it’s kind of staggering.”
Named the Rookie of the Year in 1958, the Giants’ first year in California, Cepeda went on to play 17 major-league seasons, including nine in San Francisco, where he earned 10 of his 11 All-Star appearances (MLB played two All-Star games per year from 1959-62) and slugged 226 of his 379 career home runs, including a league-high 46 while finishing second in MVP voting in 1961, eventually going on to win the award for the St. Louis Cardinals six years later.
Cepeda’s 142 RBIs in 1961 still stands as the Giants’ franchise record, and he ranks among the leaders in the San Francisco-era in RBIs (4th, 767), home runs (5th, 226), hits (6th, 1,286) and runs (9th, 652).
“We lost a true gentleman and legend,” Giants chairman Greg Johnson said in a statement. “Orlando was a great ambassador for the game throughout his playing career and beyond. He was one of the all-time great Giants and he will truly be missed.”
In 1,114 career games as a Giant, Cepeda hit .308 with 226 doubles, 22 triples, 226 homers, 767 RBI, 92 stolen bases and posted an .887 OPS.
“This is truly a sad day for the San Francisco Giants,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said. “For all of Orlando’s extraordinary baseball accomplishments, it was his generosity, kindness and joy that defined him. No one loved the game more. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, Nydia, his five children, Orlando, Jr., Malcolm, Ali, Carl and Hector, his nine grandchildren, his one great granddaughter as well as his extended family and friends.”
The Giants traded Cepeda to St. Louis in 1966 for pitcher Ray Sadecki after years of struggling to fit him and fellow natural first baseman and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey into the lineup together. The prior year, he had seen only 34 at-bats due to knee injuries, but he rebounded, winning MVP honors in his second year as he batted .325 and drove in 111 runs.
Cepeda, late in his career, was named baseball’s top designated hitter in 1973, the first season with the position in the American League. Boston signed him the prior offseason following his release from the A’s. Due to a knee injury, he played just three games for the A’s after Oakland acquired him from the Braves the prior June for pitcher Denny McLain.
Cepeda was a regular at Giants home games through the 2017 season until he dealt with some health challenges. He was hospitalized in the Bay Area in February 2018 following a cardiac event.
Cepeda’s nickname stemmed from his father, Pedro, a legendary ballplayer in Puerto Rico. The elder Cepeda, a shortstop nicknamed The Bull, never had a chance to play in the U.S. due to the color barrier.
The younger Cepeda knew little English when he arrived in the minor leagues in the mid-1950s, putting him among the first wave of Spanish-speaking players thrown into a different culture to play professional baseball, build new lives and send money back home.
Early on, Cepeda was told by a manager to go home to Puerto Rico and learn English before coming back to his career in the U.S.
“Coming here my first year, everything was a novelty to me, a surprise,” Cepeda recalled in a 2014 interview with the AP. “When I came to Virginia, I was there for one month and my father died. My dad said, ‘I want to see my son play pro ball,’ 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 didn’t have no money and my mother said, ‘You’ve got to go back and send me money, we don’t have money to eat,’” he said.
Cepeda had continued to be encouraged watching so many young players from Latin America arriving in the United States with better English skills, thanks in large part to all 30 major league organizations putting more emphasis into such training through academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
After his playing career ended, Cepeda was convicted in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of smuggling marijuana and sentenced to five years in prison. He served 10 months.
That conviction was probably one reason he was not elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cepeda eventually was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999 as the second Puerto Rican named to the Hall, following Roberto Clemente.
In his Hall of Fame speech just two weeks after the Giants retired his No. 30 jersey, he thanked the Giants’ ownership group led by Bob Lurie for bringing him back to baseball in 1986.
“Through baseball, I escaped Puerto Rico, I escaped poverty. Through baseball, I built a name for myself,” Cepeda said in Cooperstown. “Through baseball, I opened the gate for more Puerto Ricans — Black Puerto Ricans — to come to this country and play ball for a living.”
The team erected a bronze statue of Cepeda at the corner of Second and King streets in 2008, joining former teammates Mays, McCovey and Juan Marichal in being honored outside the Giants’ waterfront stadium.
“It’s a great honor because (as a kid) it never came to my mind that a statue of me would be unveiled at any ballpark, especially in San Francisco, the city that I love so much,” Cepeda said at the time. “It’s an incredible feeling.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
