WILLIE MAYS AND ORLANDO CEPEDA – TWO HALL OF FAMERS WITH CLASS!

by: Ismael Nunez

This past JUNE 18TH, 2024 Major League Baseball, the entire Sportsworld lost the greatest player MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL has ever seen according to many(including yours truly) Willie Mays passed away in his home at Palo Alto, California. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 1979 widely regared as one of the greatest players of all time, Mays was a five tool player: Who can run, hit, play the  field, steal bases, Hit HR. 

According to Wikipedia “Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility, and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.”

Here are list of his many accomplishments: Finished with a batting average .301, has 3,293 hits, 660 career HOME RUNS,  Runs batted in 1.909. Here are a list of his other accomplishments: 

New York / San Francisco Giants (1951–1952, 1954–1972)New York Mets (1972–1973)

Career highlights and awards

24× All-Star (1954–1973)World Series champion (1954)2× NL MVP (1954, 1965)NL Rookie of the Year (1951)12× Gold Glove Award (1957–1968)Roberto Clemente Award (1971)NL batting champion (1954)4× NL home run leader (1955, 1962, 1964, 1965)4× NL stolen base leader (1956–1959)

To many he was the greatest player ever. Hall of Famer Ted Williams stated in the Ken Burns documentary “If there was someone born to play this game it was Willie Mays” 

Here what other players/MLB executives/Baseball Reporters/Elected officials stated proudly: Current Commissioner of Baseball Robet D Manfred, Jr Stated: “All of Major League Baseball is in mourning today as we are gathered at the very ballpark where a career and a legacy like no other began. Willie Mays took his all-around brilliance from the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League to the historic Giants franchise. From coast to coast in New York and San Francisco, Willie inspired generations of players and fans as the game grew and truly earned its place as our National Pastime.” 

President Joe Biden proudly stated “Jill and I send our love to the Mays family, his adoring fans, and all those he will continue to inspire with his one-of-a-kind legacy.”

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi stated ““Willie Mays was a national treasure who left an indelible imprint on the lives of generations of Americans. 

Monte Irvin along with Mays who started his career in the Negro Leagues and a teamate of WIllie during the years they played for the New York Giants, who was part of the 1954 team which won the Championship stated “He had those real big hands, great power and speed and would catch everything hit in his direction. He’s the best center fielder that ever lived, no question.”

Hall of Fame Baseball Broadcaster-“Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything

Ted Williams-They invented the All Star Game for Willie Mays

Long Time Daily News Sports Columnist Mike Lupica in an article he wrote this from on a quote by Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. ““Put it this way about Willie. With Babe Ruth, you only wanted to see him do one thing. It was different with Willie. You wanted to see him do everything.”

Mays passed away on June 18th of 2024, ten days later his teammate from 1958 to 1966 with the  San Francisco Giants ORLANDO CEPEDA, and HALL OF FAMER passed away on June 28, 2024. Cepeda was born into Baseball. His father was known as “The Babe Cobb of Puerto Rico” as Cepeda states in his book “Baby Bull From Hardball to Hard Time and Back” “He could not only hit a Baseball but he was a fury on the bases as well” A former ballplayer and president of the Puerto Rican Winter League describe his experience playing against my father. “One day we had him trapped between the bases and he put his head down and flew at me with his spikes. He cut off my pants from the waist down.” In his book “Baby Bull” he mentions “My father was a great baseball player, I grew up around baseball people. My father plyed alongside and against many all time greats hall of famer Satchel Paige (who was inducted in the year 1971) Josh Gibson who inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1972, Roy Campanella who was inducted in 1969. 

Cepeda who was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico on September 17, 1937 just three after another great baseball player/Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente who was born August 18, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. As Wikipedia reported “After his early and sudden death, the National Baseball Hall of Fame changed its rules so that a player who had been dead for at least six months would be eligible for entry. In 1973, Clemente was posthumously inducted, becoming the first Caribbean and the first Latin-American player to be honored in the Hall of Fame.  

Cepeda made his major league debut on April 15, 1958, with San Francisco Giants: As they say the rest is histrory. Here are his career highlights:

• 11× All-Star (1959–1964, 1967)
• World Series champion (1967)
• NL MVP (1967)
• NL Rookie of the Year (1958)
• NL home run leader (1961)
• 2× NL RBI leader (1961, 1967)
• San Francisco Giants No. 30 retired
• San Francisco Giants Wall of Fame
• Cepeda many believe would’ve hit more Home Runs if not for injuries, which led to his retirement in the the year 1974. Then Cepeda stated in his book “Baby BULL” “What lay ahead would be a story in iself, a story without Baseball or home runs or applause.” Herb Fagen who wrote the book “Baby Bull” added “Then is life began to unravel. After being arrested for possession of marijuana in a San Juan airport he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. He would be released after serving ten months and then spent the next two months in a Philadelphia halfway house. In 1982 a friend introduced his to Buddhist Faith to help him with his pain.” 

Cepeda stated “The story of my life cannot be written without payng deference to Buddhism. Buddhism saved me spiritually and gave me tools to turn my pain into medicine.”

He added as was stated in an article from “The Athletic by Daniel Brown ““Before I practiced Buddhism, I used to blame everybody for what happened to me,” he wrote. “Through my practice, I’ve learned that winning in life is not the absence or avoidance of problems. They will always be there. … I acquired the tools to take on whatever life presents me, each and every hurdle, and become stronger and wiser in the process. … I had learned to take the good with the bad and put the past behind me.”

  The one proud thing about Cepeda is the proud friendship with many players. Felipe Alou was one was his teammate with him on the San Francisco Giants, and roommate, and a was also a dear friend to Willie Mays. He dearly loved Cepeda, his roommate and close friend from the time they were minor-league teammates. In the book “Baby Bull” Cepeda stated proudly, “Felipe and I were roommates. I loved him like a brother. still do! Alou’s book “My Baseball Journey” Alou states “He was one of the few Latin American players on the Minneapolis team, and we bonded becoming buddies to the end. His name was Orlando Cepeda,. in that brief time we spent together I was like a big brother while he taught me pointers about hitting”

Juan Marichal his teammate with the San Francisco Giants had this to say ““When I arrived in San Francisco on July 10, 1960, Orlando greeted me and welcomed me to the team. He showed me around the lockers one by one, introducing me to my teammates.“ To the day Cepeda passed away He Marichal, Alou brothers were brothers to the very end. A true symbol of Latin American brotherhood! 

After his playing career ended as he states in his book “BABY BULL”(MUST READ) “What lay ahead would be a story in itself, a story without Baseball or Home Runs or applause.” In 1975 Cepeda was arrested for transporting marijuana from Colombia to Puerto Rico, he would go on to serve Ten mouths in prison and his reputation was ruined on the island of his birthplace Puerto Rico. That arrest/conviction was the main reason he was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame until the year 1999 when he was elected by the Veterans Committee. To add his number 30 was retired by the San Francisco Giants, and statue of him was dedicated to him outside Oracle Park in 2008.  

• Tony Oliva a Cuban who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the year 2022 was hit hard by Cepeda’s death. They both at New York’s Polo Grounds in 1963, in an exhibition game and immidately as Oliva stated proudly “We started talking and from that moment we were brothers! Another Cuban Tony Perez who inducted in the year 2000 was a close friend of Cepeda and Cepeda is the godfather of Perez’s Eduardo. Currently he’s a  baseball analyst with ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN Latin America as well as a host on SiriusXM‘s MLB Network Radio.He says this proudly of his Padrino(GodFather in English) “Although Orlando is no longer with us, his legacy with endure in our hearts and in the pride of Puerto Rico. I will always remember him with love and gratitude. “Bendicion Padrino” Your spirit and teachings with contiue to guide and uplift us all.”

HERB FAGEN is the author of 8 Baseball Books. In the book he co-wrote with Cepeda “Baby Bull” he describes Cepeda’s life “His story is about more than the disgrace and degradation of a fallen baseball hero, a tarnished idos. It is the story of courage and love, of frailty and conquest, of  optimism and learning.” He is so right! I had the honor meeting Cepeda back in 2001 when a documentary on his life called “VIVA CEPEDA” was shown at Lincoln Center, he even autographed his book which I still have! A true treasure! Ivan Rodriguez a Puerto Rican who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on 2017 stated in the book “He’s been a good friend to me and a great advisor. A man who has been very valuable to society” Brother Ivan you are so right! Orlando Cepeda you will be missed, yet never forgotten!