Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back [Hardcover]

Orlando Cepeda (Author), Herb Fagen (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 1998

Orlando Cepeda enjoyed a stellar baseball career in the late fifties and throughout the sixties, but after it ended in the mid-seventies, his life fell apart. In Baby Bull, Cepeda shares his story for the first time. He reflects on his baseball career and shares his twenty-year struggle to rebuild his life and regain his reputation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A compelling presence on the field, Orlando Cepeda is equally compelling off of it. The only player to win unanimous Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player titles, the former slugging first baseman for the Giants and Cardinals was part of the first wave of Major League stars to come out of Puerto Rico in the 1950s, yet it's his postcareer that supplies Baby Bull with its power. After the fullness of a baseball life lived in the spotlight, Cepeda spiraled downward in the late '70s into shadows of his own making. Tapped out financially, carousing in discos, and deep into drugs, he served a prison sentence for smuggling marijuana before finally finding and righting himself through Buddhism: "All the records and cheers and the celebrity do not, and did not, create inner peace," Cepeda admits candidly. "Buddhism ... gave me the tools to turn my pain into medicine." Now back in baseball with the Giants as a kind of goodwill ambassador, and content as a husband and father, Cepeda looks back on a life worthy of a novel. Mercifully, he relates the story of his life without defensiveness, self-pity, or second- guessing. If it is, in part, a cautionary tale, it's at least a cautionary tale with a happy ending. --Jeff Silverman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (October 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087833212X
• ISBN-13: 978-0878332120
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice re-read the day that Cepeda went into the BBHoF, July 25, 1999

By 

David Rosenblatt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back (Hardcover)

I saw Orlando Cepeda play throught his career (mostly in person during the time he was with St. Louis). He was my hero then, he is a hero now. The book captures it all. I just wished that its publication could have waited to include a chapter on his 1999 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (maybe the paperback will). But with all the times he just missed out on the honor, who can blame the man for writing his story now.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing story, August 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back (Hardcover)

Orlando Cepeda is one of the greatest baseball players of our time. His personal life story is even more inspiring than any of his professional achievements. I was so moved by his accounts of overcoming drug addiction and other tribulations. I was also inspired by his encounter with Soka Gakkai and Buddhism. I recommend another book filled with wise quotes from the Buddhism Orlando Cepeda practices titled "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom." by Taro Gold. Wonderful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is an upbeat, worthwhile book., April 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby Bull: From Hardball to Hard Time and Back (Hardcover)

If you are a real fan of Cepeda or any of the teams he played for, you will probably enjoy this book. It does not fit the "tell all" biographies that have flooded the market, but it gives the man's honest interpretation of his life. Many references are made to all of the people who were "in my corner from the very beginning" but overall it is an enjoyable reading experience.