Ex-St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Orlando Cepeda is a Latin Baseball Hall of Famer.
Former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Orlando Cepeda, who played for the club from 1966-68, was one of the initial 25 inductees into the new Latin Baseball Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held in Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic on Saturday, May 29.
The 62-year-old was known as “Cha-Cha” or “Baby Bull” during his 17 major league seasons with six clubs. The native of Puerto Rico was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1999.
Honorees were divided into three groups:
- Cooperstown Historic — Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico), Juan Marichal (Dominican), Luis Aparicio (Venezuela), Rod Carew (Panama), Orlando Cepeda (Puerto Rico), Atanasio “Tony” Pérez (Cuba), Martín Dihigo (Cuba), Jose de la Caridad Méndez (Cuba), Cristóbal Torriente (Cuba), Alejandro Pompez (Cuba), Eloy “Buck” Canel (Argentina), Jaime Jarrin (Ecuador), Rafael (Felo) Ramirez (Cuba).
- Veterans Committee (active before 1959) — Pancho Coimbre (Puerto Rico), Beto Ávila (México), Alfonso Carrasquel (Venezuela), Tetelo Vargas (Dominican), Orestes Miñoso Cuba), Bobby Maduro (Cuba).
- Permanent Induction Committee (active after 1959) — Roberto Alomar (Puerto Rico), Dave Concepción (Venezuela), Felipe Alou (Dominican), Camilo Pascual (Cuba), Hector Espino (Mexico), Peter O’Malley (USA, Tommy Lasorda Award, outstanding non-Latino personality).
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow The Cardinal Nation Blog on Facebook.
It would not be a true Hall of Fame, without Cha-Cha.
And its nice to know, for a non-Latino, Tommy Lasorda has a wonderful personality.
As I recall, two of the three seasons, that Orlando was our First Baseman, were nothing short of sensational. I’m sure that most folks justifiably remember him as a San Francisco Giant.
My earliest baseball memories are of the Cepeda era. One of the first games I clearly remember Cepeda hit a homer off Gaylord Perry. We sat in the right field bleachers to be as close as possible to the man who broke Ruth’s record, and Cepeda’s poke went to left. I was so mad. Nelson Briles pitched for the Cards and I was mesmorized by his absurdly high leg kick. I mimicked it for months. All my dad and grandpa could talk about on the bus coming home was Lindy McDaniel who came on in relief for the bad guys. I remember my mom was a big fan of cha-cha. I can still see Maris right down there in front of me as clear as yesterday.
379 HRs for Cha-Cha.
Rog became a PED purveyor, beer.
I shudder to think what my performance would be if I was clean.