Sometimes getting a book published, like hitting, is all about timing.

Cooperstown's Bruce Markusen began writing a book about Orlando Cepeda in 1998. A year later the "Baby Bull" was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1999 induction along with George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Robin Yount.

His book, "The Orlando Cepeda Story," is now on bookshelves. It chronicles the rise and fall, and rise again of the Puerto Rican born Cepeda.

"I'm half Puerto Rican, and I always wanted to write a book about Cepeda," said Markusen, the manager of program presentations at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. "The book is geared for kids, but it has valuable lessons for both children and adults."

Cepeda, who broke in with the San Francisco Giants, played nearly 20 years in the major leagues for six different teams.

He was the second player in major league history to be voted both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in 1958, despite racism that was still rampant in the game at that time.

But after his career ended, Cepeda was arrested for smuggling marijuana into the United States from Columbia, and spent from June of 1978 to April of 1979 in federal prison.

"After that Orlando was an outcast in Puerto Rico, and his life was in shambles when he got out of prison," Markusun said. "But he turned his life around and the lesson is that here is a man who made mistakes and couldn't get a job, but there is hope and you control your own fate."

Cepeda was able to land a job as a batting instructor for the Chicago white Sox after his release from prison, and slowly worked his way back from the depths to which he had fallen, culminating with his election to the Hall of Fame.

"Orlando's the kind of guy that when you talk to him for the first time he makes you feel like you've known him for five years," Markusen said.

Markusen has had two other books published, "Roberto Clemente: The Great One," and "Baseball's Last Dynasty: Charlie Finley's Oakland A's."

He said he and Ron Visco, also a Cooperstown resident, have co-authored a book about the 10 greatest World Series, and are currently searching for a publisher, and that he hopes to re-issue his book on the Oakland A's next spring, probably with a new title considering the recent success of the New York Yankees.

Markusen and his wife, Sue, live in Cooperstown.