Orlando Cepeda (30)

When a knee injury robbed Orlando Cepeda of most of the 1965 season, no one was sure he would ever return to his status as one of the game’s most valuable players. But by 1967, baseball fans had their answer – as Cepeda led the St. Louis Cardinals to the 1967 World Series title.

When Orlando Cepeda stood on the podium in Cooperstown, New York, on July 25, 1999, it is likely that no man had followed a more difficult path to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or that any man was any happier to attain the honor. Cepeda had escaped the slums of Puerto Rico to attain stardom at a very young age, and he overcame numerous injuries during his career, and even worse personal difficulties after leaving baseball. Although he had two remarkable comeback seasons in his baseball career, he had his biggest and most impressive comeback years later, when after a decade of humiliation he again stood on a ball field and listened to the roar of a crowd.

Orlando Cepeda career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball

On May 18, midway through Orlando Cepeda's day of introductionto the Baseball Hall of Fame--like all newly anointed members,Cepeda was getting a guided tour of the Cooperstown, N.Y.,shrine before his official induction, which is on July 25--theHall's curator, Ted Spencer, was leading him into a room whoseentrance bore the legend PRIDE AND PASSION: THE AFRICAN AMERICANBASEBALL EXPERIENCE. All afternoon the 61-year-old Cepeda hadmoved with pride and wonder from one exhibit to the next, fromthe mannequinlike statue of his friend and compatriot RobertoClemente dressed in his Pittsburgh Pirates uniform number 21, tothe center of the Hall itself: the gallery of wall plaquesdepicting, among others, the faces of his old teammates JuanMarichal, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey from the San FranciscoGiants, and Bob Gibson and Lou Brock from the 1967 World Serieschampion St. Louis Cardinals. In a theater of the museum, Cepedasaw a video documentary of his life in baseball and watched,disbelieving, as the aging visages of Stan Musial and TedWilliams spoke in tribute to his leadership and hitting skills.

Orlando Cepeda baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats, along with uniform numbers, salaries, quotes, career stats and biographical data presented by Baseball Almanac.

Get all the latest stats, fantasy news, videos and more on Major League Baseball first baseman Orlando Cepeda at MLB.com.

Career: 379 HR (71st), .297 BA, 1365 RBI (87th), 1B/LF, HOF in 1999, 1967 NL MVP, 1958 NL RoY, 11xAllStar, Giants/Cardinals/... 1958-1974, b:R/t:R

Orlando Manuel "Peruchin" Cepeda Pennes (Spanish pronunciation: [orˈlando seˈpeða]; born September 17, 1937) is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball first baseman and a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The 1958 National League Rookie of the Year, Cepeda was voted the National League Most Valuable Player in 1967, the year his team, the St. Louis Cardinals, won the World Series. Overall, he appeared in three World Series and was the first winner of the American League's Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in 1973. He batted .300 or better 9 times in the 14 seasons he appeared in over 100 games, much of it played in what is now called the "Second Deadball Era."[1]