Orlando Cepeda, a Major League Baseball icon who got himself into legal troubles after his Hall of Fame career ended, has died.
The San Francisco Giants and Cepeda’s family made the announcement on Friday night. The 11-time All Star, who played 17 seasons for six different teams, was 86.
Cepeda died just 10 days after Willie Mays, his legendary one-time teammate with the San Francisco Giants, passed away.
“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his wife, Nydia, said in a statement released via the Giants. “We take comfort that he is at peace.”
The Giants staged a moment of silence after posting Cepeda’s picture on the scoreboard at Oracle Park during a game against the Dodgers.
Cepeda had a remarkable 17-year career despite battling knee problems for the majority of his playing days. He earned 1958 NL Rookie of the Year honors with San Francisco, the place where he spent his first nine seasons. After joining St. Louis in 1967, the “Baby Bull,’' as he was known, earned MVP honors after hitting a career-high .325 with 25 homers and 111 RBI. He is one of only two players in NL history to win both the Rookie of the Year and MVP unanimously (Albery Pujols was the other).
Over the course of his career, the Puerto Rico native batted .297 with 379 homers and 1,365 RBI. In addition to San Francisco and St. Louis, Cepedo also played for Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City.
Cepeda temporarily tarnished his reputation when he was arrested for marijuana possession in 1975. He wound up serving a jail sentence for nine months and didn’t get elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 1999 — 20 years after he first became eligible.