In the span of two weeks, the Giants lost two franchise icons and immediately got to work planning how to honor each individually.
With enough time to breathe since a moving ceremony for the late Willie Mays, the organization announced plans Wednesday to celebrate the life of his former teammate and fellow Hall-of-Famer, Orlando Cepeda, who died in June at the age of 86, 10 days after Mays’ passing at age 93.
A pregame ceremony will honor the “Baby Bull” during the team’s Fiesta Gigantes on Sunday, Sept. 15, the club announced in a release, which called the annual celebration of Hispanic culture, with dancing a musical performances, “one of his favorite events.”
The festivities are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., with gates opening at 11:05 a.m. ahead of their 1:05 p.m. games against the Padres.
One of the major league’s first prominent Puerto Rican players, Cepeda debuted in 1958, the Giants’ first year in San Francisco, and went on to hit 226 of his 379 career home runs and made nine of his 11 All-Star appearances before being traded to St. Louis in 1966.
Cepeda’s death was announced during the middle of the Giants’ game on June 18, with a black-and-white image flashing across the scoreboard in center field and a brief moment of silence. But this will be team’s first formal recognition since his passing.
Mays was honored on two separate occasions, in a pregame ceremony before their first home game in the wake of his death and a more intimate celebration of life that featured Bill Clinton and Barry Bonds and ran 30 minutes longer expected. The Giants’ game at Rickwood Field, where Mays’ first played, was also packed with emotion following his death just two days prior.
The pair is honored everyday by patches worn on the left chest and sleeve of the Giants’ jerseys.
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