Orlando Cepeda Biography

Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes, known as the Baby Bull and Peruchin, was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player, coach, and scout born on September 17, 1937, and died on June 28, 2024. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1958 to 1974, most notably with the San Francisco Giants, where he became a consistent power hitter in the National League during the 1960s. Cepeda was selected as an All-Star 11 times and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999. From 1958 through 1963, he ranked among the league leaders in batting, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, and total bases each season. The Giants had difficulty fitting both Cepeda and teammate Willie McCovey into the lineup, attempting to move each to left field at different times. In 1967, Cepeda helped the team win the NL pennant and earned the MVP Award by unanimous vote. Because he was Black and his career began before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line in 1947, Cepeda was unable to play in the major leagues during his early years.