Orlando Cepeda

Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes, nicknamed "the Baby Bull" and "Peruchin," was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player, coach, and scout who lived from September 17, 1937, to June 28, 2024. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1958 to 1974, most prominently with the San Francisco Giants, where he established himself as one of the most consistent power hitters in the National League during the 1960s. He was an 11-time All-Star.

Breaking in with the Giants in their first season after the team relocated to San Francisco, Cepeda was named the National League Rookie of the Year by unanimous vote in 1958. Every year from 1958 through 1963, he ranked among the league leaders in batting, home runs, runs batted in, slugging percentage, and total bases. In 1959, he became the first Puerto Rican player to start an All-Star Game. In 1961, he was runner-up in voting for the National League Most Valuable Player after leading the league with 46 home runs and 142 RBIs, a total that remains the club record for right-handed hitters. In the years that followed, the Giants struggled to fit both Cepeda and teammate Willie McCovey into the lineup. Cepeda was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.