Orlando Cepeda coi San Francisco Giants – da:lavidabaseball.com
Article by Giovanni Manenti
Sport, especially in times in which there are still forms of racial discrimination as well as little possibility of asserting oneself for those belonging to the poorest classes, sometimes offers the possibility of redeeming humble origins, especially if these represent the push to emerge from a miserable social condition…
Even more so if one’s commitment allows one to redeem the memory of one’s father, for whom the aforementioned circumstances prevented him from being able to make use of the qualities demonstrated in the practice of a Discipline, then passed down, with very different results, to one’s son.
So here’s what for Orlando Cepeda, born on September 17, 1937 in Ponce, a city of less than 200 thousand inhabitants in Puerto Ricothe wish of redeem the memory of his father Pedrobut for everyone “wig“, one of the best baseball players in his country becomes a sort of moral duty, a “mission“to be completed…
Despite that Pedro was a professional player in his country, this did not allow him to rise socially, given that the family lived in a wooden house without telephone or refrigeratornot being able to aspire to the US Major League because he was black, a taboo dispelled only in 1947 when Jackie Robinson was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But even if he was unable to improve the family’s standard of living, “wig” remained an idol for his son, who begins to following their games from the age of 9, quickly falling in love with baseballeven if he initially failed to find a place in a club, so as to orient himself towards basketball, a sport which he soon had to give up following a knee injury following which the doctors advised him against continuing…
Having strengthened his physique in the meantime, this time allows the young Orlando to find a job with the Santurce Crabbers, but just as things seem to be getting better, here it is the father – who, having concluded his competitive activity, had found a public job controlling the waters of the rivers – he contracted malaria which led him to pass away at the end of April 1955, at just 50 years old, not before ensuring that his son had signed a professional contract with the Crabbers, which uses the $500 salary received to pay for his father’s funeral.
Its President contributes to favoring Orlando Cepeda’s rise to the top of US Baseball Pedro Zorrilla, who convinces him to undergo an audition with the New York Giants, surpassed by him, but only to be subsequently diverted to Minor League Clubs, so much so that, after the difficulties encountered at the “Salem Rebels”, both for issues of language and race, the not yet 19-year-old Puerto Rican threatens to return home, if it were not the same Zorrilla to advise him to accept the Kokomo Giants’ offerfranchise militant in the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League…
Good choice, as it is at the end of the season Cepeda returns to New York, even if the Giants still send him to “cut your teeth” with satellite lineups from St. Cloud and Springfieldbefore finally being ready for the “great leap” in the Major League, with the Club having moved from New York to San Francisco in the meantime.
Cepeda thus has the opportunity to made his National League debut in the championship opener in mid-April 1958 in an 8-0 home win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, hitting the first of his 379 career home runsso much so that the contract of 7000 dollars per season just signed before taking the field, was raised to 9500 already during the month of June, a fair recognition for a 21-year-old finishing his freshman year with a 31.2 hit percentage, 25 home runs and 96 RBI (Run batted in, translatable as “points beaten a casa” …), which earned him the coveted title of “Rookie of the Year” (National League Rookie of the Year) by unanimous decision…
At the end of the season, Orlando Cepeda uses his earnings to buy his mother a housein the meantime having moved to the capital San Juan of Puerto Rico, also proving to be skilled in negotiations with the managers, who had presented him with a new contract worth 12 thousand dollars which he refused, demanding 20 thousand, before finding an agreement at 17 thousand.
Money well spent, however, because at the beginning of the 1960s, Orlando Cepeda – soon nicknamed “Peruchin” in the memory of his father – is confirmed one of the best players in the National League, so much so that he was selected for six consecutive editions (1959-’64) of the “All Star Game” della National League – the first player from his country to receive such an honor – as well as being the leader of the various rankings for home runs and RBI until 1963…
The Cepeda’s best season was 1961, in which he hit 46 home runs and 142 RBI and came second in the National League MVP voting.while the following year he contributed to the title of the National League which had been missing since 1954, even if in the World Series the Giants were defeated by the former “city rivals” dei New York Yankees who prevailed 4-3 in the series, with the 1-0 victory in game 7 played at “Candlestick Park” of San Francisco.
But, almost like a prediction for those who grew up having to fight tooth and nail for a decent existence, here, at the peak of their career, the “trip of destiny“, in the form of an injury to his right knee while attempting to intercept a fly ball limited his appearances to just 33 in the 1965 seasonhaving had to undergo surgery…
Furthermore, doctors advise Cepeda to stop playinga suggestion he rejected given that baseball was his only source of income – ed at the time his annual salary had risen to $46,000 – undergoing rehabilitation exercises that allow him to return to play too if the Giants excluded him from the starting lineup and then traded him in May 1966 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
A bet, as they say in these cases, which is also very substantial in economic terms, with Orlando Cepeda signing a contract worth 53 thousand dollarsbut which still gives the management hope, given that the numbers for the season show a percentage of over 30% of valid jokes, so much so that it was awarded the title of “Comeback Player of the Year” (that means “return of the year” …) della National League …
It is nothing more than an appetizer for the next one, which he sees Cepeda set career highs with a league-leading 32.5% hitting percentage, with 25 home runs and a league-leading 111 RBIsperformances that led the Cardinals to the National League title, and then win the World Series by beating the Boston Red Sox 4-3 thanks to the decisive 7-2 victory in game 7 on the diamond ofFenway Park” in Boston.
Selected for the seventh and final time for the “All Star Game”, Orlando Cepeda is also unanimously voted National League MVPso as to have reached the top of his competitive activity after having crossed the threshold of 30 springs, and then, having concluded the experience in St. Louis, moving in 1969 for a three-year period with the Atlanta Braves, contributing to the 1969 title of the inaugural edition della National League West Division …
But the knee problems begin to “ask for the bill” to Cepeda who, having moved to the American League, he was forced to end his career in 1974, at the age of 37after wearing the colors of the Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals, with the Boston season alone worthy of its fameso much so that he finished 15th in American League MVP voting.
A glory for Puerto Rico, from a sporting point of view, Orlando Cepeda became much less so after his retirement, being arrested several times for involvement in drug trafficking and failure to pay alimony to the first wife from whom he had divorced, only to later redeem himself, despite also seeing his second marriage fail…
However, those who decide who to introduce into the team do not care about non-sporting events.National Baseball Hall of Fame“, which for Orlando Cepeda happened in 1999 and, on the occasion of his visit to the Museum located in Cooperstown, New York, he had the opportunity to admire a photo of the formation of Ciudad Trujillo, in which his father was present, dating back to 1937or the year of his birth…
Amazed, the now 62-year-old Orlando comes out with a “It’s incredible, I didn’t know my dad was in that photo, it almost seems like he was waiting for me…!!” …
Oh yes, my dear, your father would certainly have been proud of your sporting successes, much less of what you have done outside of diamonds…!!
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