Orlando Cepeda biography

 Orlando Cepeda biography

 Orlando Cepeda, in full Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes, bynames Baby Bull and Cha-Cha, (born September 17, 1937, Ponce, Puerto Rico), Puerto Rican skilled baseball participant who turned one of many first new stars to emerge when main league baseball arrived on the U.S. West Coast in 1958.

Cepeda grew up surrounded by baseball: his father, Pedro (“Perucho”) Cepeda, was a power-hitting shortstop who was often called the “Babe Ruth of Puerto Rico.” In 1958 Orlando Cepeda debuted with the San Fancisco Giants and was a unanimous choice because the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year. The seven-time All-Star first baseman performed for eight seasons with San Francisco, three with the St. Louis Cardinals, and three with the Atlanta Braves earlier than ending his profession with transient stints with Oakland Athletics, the Boston Red Sox, and the Kansas City Royals. In 1967, with St. Louis, Cepeda was unanimously chosen because the NL Most Valuable Player whereas main the Cardinals to the World Series title.

With the type of numbers Cepeda put up throughout his 17-year main league profession—a .297 batting common and 379 dwelling runs—it appeared he could be a certain guess to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. But after 15 years on the poll, he was by no means capable of obtain the mandatory votes for induction, most likely owing to the backlash ensuing from an off-the-field incident the 12 months after he retired. In 1975 Cepeda was arrested when a number of kilos of marijuana have been found in his baggage on his return to Puerto Rico from Colombia, the place he had been conducting baseball clinics. After serving 10 months of his five-year sentence at a federal jail in Florida, Cepeda was launched early due to good behaviour. In 1987 he returned to the positioning of his best success, San Francisco, the place he was employed to work as a group consultant. His improved public picture led to his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1999.