San Francisco Chronicle August 16,2001

Cepeda Lifetime Awards given to
Marlins' Perez, broadcaster

By DWIGHT CHAPIN

Cepeda, who is a strong supporter of the effort to establish the Hispanic baseball museum here and is on Avila's board of directors, said, "For so many years, so many great Latin ballplayers have played in this country. It's time they were honored."

San Francisco supervisor Gerardo Sandival,another supporter of the proposed museum, said, "We need to jump on this before somebody else does."

Perez, who was joined at yesterday's ceremonies by Marlins general manager Dave Dombrowski and coach Tony Taylor, said he was "very proud" to be honored with the Cepeda award.

"It means a lot to be recognized this way," he said. "I've received a lot of awards in my career, but this one is very special, because it's in the name of my compadre and my brother (Cepeda)."

One Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman welcomed another Hall of Fame first baseman into an additional bit of select sports company yesterday.

Tony Perez, who was enshrined at Cooperstown last year was the recipient of one of the first two Orlando Cepeda Life time Achievement Awards in ceremonies at Delancey Street Restaurant in San Francisco.

Honored along with Perez, the manager of the Florida Marlins was Rafael "Felo" Ramirez, the Marlins' Spanish-language broadcaster, who was inducted in to the baseball hall this summer.

The awards were given in conjunction with the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum, a nonprofit organization established in 1999 that is looking for a permanent home nearPacific Bell Park, according to founder and president Gabriel "Tito" Avila jr.

Return to News Clips

ABOUT US / FUTURE EVENTS / PAST ACTIVITIES / HALL OF FAME / NEWS CLIPS / AMAURY'S COLUMN