Orlando Cepeda, the great player of the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, has died, the Giants announced on Friday. He was 86 years old.

Cepeda was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1999. He was one of the most feared power bats of his generation and one of the first great Puerto Rican baseball players. His death comes just 10 days after the death of Willie Mays, with whom he played for nine seasons on the Giants.

The Giants announced his death during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a moment of silence before the sixth inning.

Cepeda retired in 1974 without any notable accomplishments. He was an 11-time All-Star, NL MVP, World Series winner, Rookie of the Year and one of the Giants' best players. His post-retirement life was marred, however, when he was arrested for transporting 170 pounds of marijuana from Colombia to Puerto Rico.

Facing numerous legal problems, Cepeda spent ten months in prison. He spent the next few years trying to restore his image by returning to baseball as a scout, converting to Buddhism, and working as a community ambassador for the Giants.

After missing induction into the Hall of Fame by nine votes in 1994, his final year as a BBWAA competitor, the Veterans Committee decided five years later to induct him as the second Puerto Rican, alongside Roberto Clemente.

Orlando Cepeda was a star with the Giants and a champion with the Cardinals

Cepeda came to baseball from a humble background. He grew up in poverty in Puerto Rico. His father was a good baseball player, but due to racial segregation, he was unable to adapt to a career in the MLB.

He traveled to the United States in 1955 to try out for the Giants, who were playing in New York at the time. Things went so well that he ended up on the team's Class D squad, but the start of his professional career was interrupted by the death of his father from malaria.

Cepeda spent his signing bonus on the funeral.

After three years in the minors, Cepeda made his MLB debut in 1958, the Giants' first season in San Francisco. The league's top rookie, he quickly rose to stardom and became a staple in the Giants' lineup, often batting fifth behind Mays and Willie McCovey.

That career with the Giants ended abruptly in 1966 when San Francisco traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals during a series against the Cardinals. That trade paid off for St. Louis, who won 101 games and the 1967 World Series. Even with Stan Musial and Bob Gibson on board, it was Cepeda who was unanimously voted MVP after hitting .325/.399/.524 with 25 home runs and a league-best 25 RBIs.

Cepeda took a big step back the next season, but the Cardinals still returned to the World Series in the “Year of the Pitcher,” losing to the Detroit Tigers in seven games. The next season, he was abruptly traded back to the Atlanta Braves, where he played four seasons before finishing his career with one-year stints with the Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Royals.