Cepeda gets his statue
He joins Mays, Marichal and McCovey
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle
by: John Shea jshea@sfchronicle.com
September 6, 2008
Photo: Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle (Archive/Cooperstown/1999)


-- The first three Hall of Famers to have statues erected in their honor at China Basin did most, if not all, of their best work as Giants. Orlando Cepeda is different. He won an MVP award and World Series in St. Louis.

Still, the Giants consider Cepeda one of their own - and, obviously, one of their very best, considering he'll join Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal on their celebrated statue squad.

"I grew up in the organization and helped build the organization, and my relationship with San Francisco means so much to me," said Cepeda, who turns 71 on Sept. 17. "It never came to my mind that some day a statue of myself would be at the ballpark in San Francisco. It's an incredible feeling."

Today's statue unveiling, at 2nd and King streets, is at 3 p.m., and about 35 friends and relatives (including four grandchildren) from Puerto Rico will pay tribute to "Cha Cha," as will Vera Clemente, the widow of Roberto Clemente, the first Puerto Rican Hall of Famer. Cepeda said he knew Clemente as far back as 1952 and was a teammate in the Puerto Rican winter league in 1955.

Cepeda was an original San Francisco Giant, winning the National League's Rookie of the Year award in 1958 and homering against the Dodgers in the first big-league game on the West Coast. In many ways, at least initially, he was San Francisco's favorite son, with no link to New York.

But Cepeda, unlike Mays, McCovey and Marichal, was traded in his prime, early in his ninth big-league season. The Giants had two power hitters at first base, Cepeda and McCovey, and Cepeda was dealt to the Cardinals for Ray Sadecki on May 8, 1966.

The Giants thought the left-handed pitcher could lead them to a pennant that year. Didn't happen. They finished second behind the Dodgers. The following year, Cepeda was MVP and helped the Cardinals win the pennant - the Giants were second again - and World Series.

"I thought I'd be a Giant forever," Cepeda said. "When they traded me, it broke my heart. I was in the best shape of my career. I would've loved to stay here. Willie McCovey told (manager) Herman Franks not to trade me. He said we need Orlando to win more pennants."

Cepeda played 17 seasons and hit .297 with 379 homers and 1,365 RBIs in 2,124 games. He played 52 percent of his career as a Giant (1,114 games) and hit .308, the second highest mark in San Francisco history behind Barry Bonds' .312. His 226 homers rank fifth, his 767 RBIs rank fourth - 142 of which came in 1961, a San Francisco record.

Cepeda played for six teams and in 1973 was the American League's top designated hitter. He retired in 1974 and rejoined the Giants as a community-relations representative in 1987, when Bob Lurie owned the team.

After the Peter Magowan group took over, the Giants campaigned for Cepeda to make the Hall of Fame, and he was elected by the Veterans Committee and inducted in 1999.

So which Giant gets the next statue?

"Barry Bonds, because he deserves that," Cepeda said. "He belongs. He did so much for the city. He did so much for the ballclub."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/06/SPHQ12OSTJ.DTL

Cepeda honored by Giants with bronze statue
The International Herald Tribune
September 6, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)- Orlando Cepeda sat through several other statue unveilings honoring his comrades and thought to himself he'd probably get his own one day.

"Someday mine will be there," he recalled with a grin of his thinking then. "I didn't tell anybody. I said it to myself."

Cepeda's likeness has now been cast in bronze, joining his fellow Giants Hall of Famers to be honored with 9-foot statues in San Francisco: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal.

Cepeda's statue will be dedicated Saturday afternoon following a Latin fiesta in front of the Giants' waterfront ballpark, before the team takes on the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Giants will honor Cepeda's special day by wearing their "GIGANTES" jerseys for the game.

"It's a great honor," Cepeda said Friday, sitting next to Vera Clemente, the widow of his longtime friend and countryman Roberto Clemente.

"It never came to my mind that someday a statue was going to be unveiled in any ballpark, especially in San Francisco, the city I love so much. It's a beautiful ballpark. Also, to be able to join Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal is a great feeling. I'm very fortunate. I'm very lucky to be born with the skill to play ball."

Cepeda spent the first eight-plus seasons of his 17-year major league career with the Giants, starting in 1958 when the club moved West from New York. The Giants have been celebrating their 50th anniversary in San Francisco all season — and paying tribute to Cepeda is yet another way of doing so.

Cepeda, following Clemente before him, was among the pioneers in professional baseball from his native Puerto Rico. Nicknamed "Cha Cha" or "Baby Bull," Cepeda was signed by the New York Giants in 1955 and went on to hit .297 lifetime with 379 home runs and 1,365 RBIs in 2,124 career big league games.

He earned NL Rookie of the Year honors in '58, was named NL MVP in 1967 and got selected to 11 All-Star games but played in only nine of those.

His statue was erected Friday, but still covered. Cepeda was thrilled it would be a surprise come Saturday, though he had been talking to sculptor William Behrends about the design over the past couple of years. Behrends also crafted the statues of Mays, McCovey and Marichal and one of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn erected outside San Diego's Petco Park last year.

"It's very hard to explain," Cepeda said of trying to describe what this gesture means to him. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be like my Dad, a baseball player. How many kids say that, a ball player?"

Cepeda, who turns 71 on Sept. 17, was touched that Vera Clemente made the trip to the Bay Area from Puerto Rico to take part in this weekend's festivities. The families have been close for decades, often spending the holidays together.

"I'm sure he would be very proud," she said of how her husband would feel toward Cepeda being recognized this way. "For me, it's a pleasure and honor to be here in this beautiful city and with Orlando and his family as they are honoring him with this statue."

Roberto Clemente and Cepeda are the only two Puerto Rican baseball players with their own statues at major league ballparks. Clemente's stands outside Pittsburgh's PNC Park with "The Great One" beneath it.

"That's great," said Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glover from Venezuela who could be headed to the Hall of Fame himself one day.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/06/sports/BBN-Giants-Cepeda-Statue.php