Cepeda, Orlando M.
Baseball
b. Sept. 17, 1937, Ponce, PR
Cepeda's father, Pedro, was a big power hitter, Puerto Rico's version of Babe Ruth, nicknamed "Bull." Orlando became known as the "Baby Bull." The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder was a right-handed hitting first baseman who arrived in the major leagues with the NL's San Francisco Giants in 1958 and won the rookie of the year award by batting .312 with 25 home runs, 96 RBI, and a league-leading 38 doubles.
After hitting 27 home runs in 1959 and 24 in 1960, Cepeda exploded in 1961, leading the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBI while batting .311. His great season was unfortunately overshadowed by the home run duel between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of the New York Yankees that culminated in Maris's hitting 61 home runs to break Babe Ruth's record.
Cepeda hit more than 30 home runs and batted over .300 each of the next three seasons, but a knee injury limited him to 33 games in 1965 and he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals early in the 1966 season.
With St. Louis, Cepeda won the NL's most valuable player award in 1967, when he batted .325 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 111 RBI to help the Cardinals win the pennant. He hit only .107 with 1 RBI in the World Series, but St. Louis beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games.
After a sub-par season in 1968, Cepeda was traded to the Atlanta Braves. He hit 22 home runs with 88 RBI while batting only .257 in 1969, then had another fine season with a .305 average, 34 home runs, and 111 RBI.
The knee problem recurred and he played only 71 games in 1971. After 28 games in 1972, the Braves traded him to the AL's Oakland Athletics, where he had just 3 at-bats in 3 games. Cepeda had a final good season with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, hitting .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI. He retired after appearing in only 33 games with the Kansas City Royals in 1974.
In 17 major league seasons, Cepeda hit .297 with 2,351 hits, including 417 doubles, 27 triples, and 379 home runs. He scored 1,131 runs and had 1,365 RBI.