San Francsico Giants legend and MLB Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda passed away on Friday at the age of 86, the team announced.
Cepeda, a lumbering first baseman who played for six teams, but primarily the Giants from 1958-1974, was a seven-time All-Star and one of the most-feared power hitters of the National League in the 1960s.
Breaking into Major League Baseball with the Giants in 1958, their first season after relocating to San Francisco, he was named the NL Rookie of the Year by unanimous vote after batting .312 with 25 home runs and 96 RBIs, also leading the NL with 38 doubles. Every year from 1958 through 1963, he was among the league leaders in batting, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and total bases. In 1959 he became the first Puerto Rican player to start an All-Star Game, and in 1961 he was runner-up in voting for the NL MVP after leading the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBI, which remains the Giants' record for right-handed hitters.
In 1966 the Giants traded Cepeda to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he finished the year with a .301 average. In 1967 he hit a career-high .325 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 111 RBI, helping lead the team to the NL pennant. He also was named NL MVP in a unanimous vote.
Another trade brought him to the Atlanta Braves, and he helped that team win the first West Division title when MLB expanded divisions in 1969. Cepeda's 254 home runs and 896 RBI in the 1960s each ranked fifth among NL hitters. He then switched to the American League shortly before its adoption of the designated hitter and won the first Outstanding Designated Hitter Award with the Boston Red Sox in 1973 before his career came to an end the following year.
In 1999, Cepeda was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Hall's Veterans Committee.
Giants legends Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays die in same month
Just 10 days ago, the Giants lost another legend when Willie Mays, arguably the greatest player in baseball history, passed away at the age of 93.
Just the day before, Mays announced in a statement that he would not be attending the game earlier this month between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field, the place he briefly called home while playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro League. At just 17 years old, he helped the team reach the Negro World Series in 1948.
Mays was a true five-tool player who dazzled the entire baseball world and resonated with aspiring athletes for decades. The World Series champion and two-time MVP batted .301 with 660 home runs, 3,293 hits, 1,909 RBIs, a .940 OPS and 525 doubles in 22 seasons (all but two with Giants). It is an all-time great career that earned him Hall of Fame enshrinement in Cooperstown in 1979 and a special place among the most prominent sports figures in the 20th Century.
Of course, Willie Mays' legacy still carries on today. His transcendent impact is being felt in the wake of his passing.
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