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Giants announce plans for Orlando Cepeda celebration of life


Giants announce plans for Orlando Cepeda celebration of life

In the space of two weeks, the Giants lost two franchise icons and immediately went to work planning how to honor each of them individually.

With time to breathe since the moving ceremony for the late Willie Mays, the organization this week announced plans to honor the life of his former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, who passed away in June at age 86, 10 days after Mays’ passing at age 93.

The “Baby Bull” will be honored with a pre-game ceremony during the team’s Fiesta Gigantes on Sunday, Sept. 15, the club announced in a press release, calling the annual celebration of Hispanic culture with dance and music performances “one of its favorite events.”

Festivities are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., with gates opening at 11:05 a.m. before the game against the Padres at 1:05 p.m.

Cepeda was one of the first prominent Puerto Rican players in the major leagues. He made his debut in 1958, the Giants’ first year in San Francisco. Over the course of his career, he hit 226 of his 379 home runs and made nine of his 11 All-Star appearances before being traded to St. Louis in 1966.

Cepeda’s death was announced midway through the Giants’ game on June 18, with a black-and-white image flashing across the midfield scoreboard and a brief moment of silence, but this is the team’s first official acknowledgement since his death.

Mays was honored on two separate occasions: at a ceremony before the first home game since his death, and at a more intimate celebration of his life attended by Bill Clinton and Barry Bonds that lasted 30 minutes longer than expected. The Giants’ game at Rickwood Field, where Mays played for the first time, was also full of emotion after his death just two days earlier.

The couple is honored daily through patches worn on the left chest and sleeve of Giants jerseys.

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