Cha-Cha Cha-Chas Into the Hall of Fame

Hey baseball fans!

As some of you know, there are three Puerto Rican-born Hall of Famers in Cooperstown:  Roberto Clemente ,  Roberto Alomar , and one other person. There are also three Hall of Fame position players who played for the 1962 San Francisco Giants pennant-winning squad:  Willie Mays ,  Willie McCovey , and one other person. The “one other person” on both of these lists is one of the best there was:  Orlando Cepeda !

Cepeda (who has one of the coolest nicknames in baseball history, the Baby Bull) played for the Giants, Braves, Cardinals, Royals, Red Sox, and Athletics from 1958-1974. He got his nickname because his father was called the Bull, so naturally, Orlando was the Baby Bull. Another important note is that the Bull, aka Pedro Cepeda, was an excellent slugger in Puerto Rico and was called the  Babe Ruth  of the Caribbean. Anyway, Cepeda, the seven-time All Star and Hall of Fame inductee in 1999 batted .312 in his rookie year and won the Rookie of the Year Award unanimously. Orlando went on to bat .297 in his career, with 379 hits out of the park and 1,365 RBIs. In 1967 with the Cardinals, Cha-Cha (another one of Cepeda’s nicknames) won the MVP Award with a league-leading 111 RBIs en route to getting his first and only World Series ring. It was the first unanimous MVP selection since  Carl Hubbell  in ’36. The first baseman and left fielder was also usually in the top ranks for being hit by pitches the most times, leading the league twice in this category. He is 75th on this list with being hit by a pitch 106 times during his amazing career, 15th among HoFers.

Isn’t it coincidentally funny how the Baby Bull became aggressive when he saw the color red (i.e., he won the MVP while he was a Cardinal)? I personally think it’s very funny.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for reading and check back in a few days for more of “all the buzz on what wuzz.”