Feb. 7, 1963 - The San Francisco Giants’ Orlando Cepeda (pictured last season), resting for the first winter in his life, says he can’t wait for spring training. But there’s one hitch — his contract. “I am very, very disappointed,” he told the San Francisco Examiner by telephone today from his home in Puerto Rico. “I expected a raise. I thought we all deserved a raise. But what did I get? A cut — that’s what I get! Is no good. In fact, is very bad. Makes me wonder if maybe they don’t want me any more.” One of the reasons the Giants were dissatisfied with Cepeda’s 1962 performance can be found in the statistics. Cepeda hit .459 against the seventh-place Phillies, .353 against the eighth-place Colts, and .338 against the last-place Mets. But he hit well under .300 against the rest of the league. One reason given was that, for seven years, he had played the year around in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, where he is a national hero. This winter, for the first time in his life, Cepeda didn’t play winter ball. “I’ve been going to the Y every day,” he said today. “I play basketball and do the exercises. I feel good, in great shape. But I feel very badly inside about the money. I did not expect such a contract. I look at it, then I look again, then I send it back.” How much less? he was asked. “Please,” said the wounded Bull. “It makes me feel bad even to think about it, so I don’t want to talk about it. A lot less money. Since I send it back, I hear nothing. It is more than two weeks since I send it back to Chub Feeney. Now, I wait.”
Comments