1974 Topps #83 Orlando Cepeda
About Orlando Cepeda
Cepeda spent 1973 with the Boston Red Sox, the first season of the American League designated hitter, and hit .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI. He won the first Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. Card #83 pictures him with the Red Sox. He closed his career with 33 games for Kansas City in 1974.
Orlando Manuel Cepeda Pennes was the son of Pedro "Perucho" Cepeda, a Puerto Rican star known at home as the Bull, which made the son the Baby Bull. He passed a New York Giants tryout camp in 1955 and signed for a $500 bonus. He reached the majors with the San Francisco Giants in the franchise's first West Coast season and was voted National League Rookie of the Year unanimously, hitting .312 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 38 doubles. A free-swinging right-handed first baseman, he led the league in home runs once and in runs batted in twice, and was an All-Star in seven seasons. Knee trouble that started with a boyhood basketball injury shadowed the rest of his career, costing him most of one season and finally his place in San Francisco. Traded to St. Louis for pitcher Ray Sadecki, he became the loose, jazz-loving center of a Cardinals clubhouse that won a World Series, and took the Most Valuable Player award unanimously. He later helped Atlanta to a division title, was the first man signed purely to be a designated hitter, and finished with 2,351 hits, 379 home runs and a .297 average. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1999.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac (1) · Baseball Almanac (2) · Baseball Almanac (3) · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 519 | 7 | 147 | 230 | 60 | 30 | 20 | 25 | 0 |
| SGC | 59 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: #567 Boston Red Sox
More Boston Red Sox cards:
- #33 Don Newhauser
- #61 Luis Aparicio
- #84 Rick Wise
- #105 Carlton Fisk
- #113 Dick Drago
- #118 Bill Lee
- #167 Luis Tiant
- #192 Mario Guerrero
- #204 1973 Stolen Base Leaders
- #219 Doug Griffin
- #247 Rick Miller
- #280 Carl Yastrzemski
- #301 Bob Montgomery
- #325 Tommy Harper
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1974 Topps #83 card?
It is card #83 of the 660-card 1974 Topps Baseball set, picturing Orlando Cepeda of the Boston Red Sox.
Is #83 Orlando Cepeda's last card as an active player?
Yes. The 1974 set holds the last cards of three Hall of Famers as active players: #61 Luis Aparicio, #83 Orlando Cepeda and #215 Al Kaline.
How many cards are in the 1974 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 678 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, issued all at once as a single series and printed in equal quantities; 17 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fourteen San Diego / "Washington Nat'l Lea." pairs (thirteen Padres player cards and the #226 team card), the three-state #599 Rookie Pitchers, the #608 Apodaco misspelling and the #654 Jesus Alou front without a position.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.