Proof of the Pluses

In eight seasons with the San Francisco Giants, Orlando Cepeda batted .308, belted 223 homers, drove in 752 runs--and took more abuse from his managers than any other player in baseball. Bill Rigney called him "a little boy, to whom winning a pennant isn't as important as it ought to be." Alvin Dark complained that Cepeda had "more minuses than pluses." Herman Franks said he was "lazy" and "a faker," publicly accused him of malingering when he was crippled by a knee injury that hampered him for two years and finally required surgery. Last year Cepeda demanded to be traded. The Giants obligingly shipped him to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for a pitcher who had won only six games and lost 15 the season before.

At first, Cepeda's reception in St. Louis was cool. "The other players were not too sure about me," he says. "From everything they had heard, I was temperamental, bad for a team, a troublemaker, a clubhouse lawyer. I had to prove myself, to myself and to the other players. I had to prove that everything they wrote and said about me in San Francisco was wrong."

This season Cepeda batted .325, clouted 25 homers and drove in 111 runs--tops in the National League. He also appointed himself a sort of team psychiatrist--playing cha-cha records in the clubhouse to dispel the gloom after losses, leading the club in cheers after each St. Louis victory. His enthusiasm was catching--and his bat did the rest. Picked by experts and oddsmakers to finish no better than fifth, the Cardinals ran away with the National League pennant, went on to beat the Boston Red Sox in seven games in the World Series. Last week Cepeda's contribution got the recognition it deserved. He became the first man in history to win unanimous selection as the National League's Most Valuable Player.

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