Orlando Cepeda ✝

Cepeda was born to a poor family. His father, Pedro "Perucho" Cepeda, was also a baseball player in Puerto Rico, which influenced Cepeda\'s interest in the sport from a young age. His first contact with professional baseball was as a bat boy for the Santurce Crabbers of Puerto Rico. Pedro Zorilla, the team\'s owner, persuaded Cepeda\'s family to let him attend a New York Giants tryout. He played for several Minor League Baseball teams before attracting the interest of the Giants, who had just moved to San Francisco.\n', ' During a 17-year career, he played with the San Francisco Giants (1958–66), St. Louis Cardinals (1966–68), Atlanta Braves (1969–72), Oakland Athletics (1972), Boston Red Sox (1973), and Kansas City Royals (1974). Cepeda was selected to play in seven Major League Baseball All-Star Games during his career, becoming the first player from Puerto Rico to start one. In 1978, Cepeda was sentenced to five years in prison on drug possession charges, of which he served ten months in prison and the rest on probation. In 1987, Cepeda was contracted by the San Francisco Giants to work as a scout and "goodwill ambassador." In 1999, Cepeda was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.\n', ' Orlando Cepeda was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to Pedro Aníbal Cepeda (1905/6-1955) and Carmen Pennes. The family was poor, and lived in wood houses without a telephone or refrigerator. His father was a professional baseball player in Puerto Rico, where he was known as "Perucho" and "The Bull", and was widely considered one of the best players of his generation. Orlando was thus known as "The Baby Bull." Cepeda saw his father play baseball for the first time in 1946, and was instantly interested in the game.\n', '