When Willie McCovey was king: Remembering his life and times
In this special 3-Dot edition honoring the great Willie
McCovey. Let’s begin with a scene at the 1969 All-Star Game, hosted by the American League’s Washington Senators at RFK Stadium. Red Schoendienst was the National League manager, having guided the St. Louis Cardinals into the ’68 World Series, and he could only marvel at a collection of talent including Hank Aaron, Willie
Mays, Lee May, Tony Perez,
Johnny Bench and Ernie Banks. Any one of those men would fit nicely into the cleanup spot — but it was an easy call for Schoendienst. He took the big man wearing the No. 44 of the San Francisco Giants.
That was McCovey’s best season, worthy of the MVP
award, and he was up for the occasion. In the third inning, facing the A’s John “Blue Moon” Odom, McCovey hit a titanic drive over the right-field scoreboard for a two-run homer, scoring Aaron from first to highlight a five-run rally. One inning later, McCovey homered again — this time off Detroit’s Denny McLain, who had 31 wins (imagine that) the previous year. McCovey was named the game’s MVP and everyone celebrated the most feared hitter in a very loaded league.
Those were days of honorable strategy in the All-Star Game. McCovey, among several other teammates, came to the plate four times ... It’s worth noting that the Giants are baseball’s only franchise with four members of the 500 Home Run Club: Barry Bonds (762), Mays (660), McCovey (521) and Mel Ott (511) . ... It’s safe to say that the current Giants are terribly short on outfielders. During the Giants’ first seven seasons in San Francisco, McCovey shared outfield time with Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Leon Wagner, Willie Kirkland, Harvey Kuenn and all of the Alou brothers (Matty, Felipe and Jesus). They even got cameo appearances from Duke Snider and Manny Mota . ... How the heck did McCovey wind up as a designated hitter in Oakland (11 games in 1976)? The A’s dynasty had just ended, with most all of the stars sold or traded, and owner Charlie Finley went on a crazy spree to acquire older players, also picking up Billy Williams, Dick Allen, Manny Sanguillen and Rico Carty, among others, for brief spells in the late ’70s . ... McCovey was a child of the Deep South, and his hometown of Mobile, Ala., was not a comfortable place for African American kids to grow up. “Kids in Mobile either hung around street corners and went into gangs, or they hung around street corners and went into sports,” he told Sport Magazine. “I was lucky. The kids who were my friends went into sports.” ... Much like Mays, McCovey was known as a fine all-around athlete in high school: a highscoring basketball center and a football wide receiver.
A pretty fair stat: McCovey homered in four decades. The only others to do it: Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson and, of all people, Omar Vizquel . ... General consensus on the longest homer McCovey ever hit: Sept. 4, 1966, at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Leading off the third inning against Al Jackson, McCovey unleashed a shot that landed in the upper deck above the scoreboard in right-center field. It was estimated at 515 feet — “probably the longest ball ever hit in St. Louis,” said Cardinals broadcaster Mike Shannon, who was playing right field that day. “I talked to him later and he told me, ‘I don’t know if it was my longest. But it was the hardest.’ ” ... Jon Miller on KNBR on Wednesday night, recalling a game from 1970, when there was artificial turf at Candlestick: “Mays was on first base with two down and they went into a big shift on McCovey, as teams often did. Willie went ahead and laid down a bunt down the third-base side, and he bunted it hard enough so it went past third base and into left field. Mays scored from first on a bunt and McCovey ended up with a double. To this day, it was the most outstanding thing I’ve ever seen in a baseball game.” ... Leaving the Giants was extremely difficult for McCovey. Owner Horace Stoneham was losing money and trading his most cherished mainstays, including Mays and Juan Marichal, in the early ’70s. “Horace wanted to make sure we were happy, so he would ask us where we wanted to go. For Willie, it was New York. I wanted to stay on the West Coast,” McCovey said in Fay Vincent’s book, “It’s What’s Inside the Lines That Counts.” When Stoneham arranged the October 1973 trade to San Diego, with outfielder Bernie Williams for pitcher Mike Caldwell ,“Buzzie Bavasi (the Padres’ GM), Horace and I were all on the phone,” McCovey said. I let them know that this is what I wanted.” ... Touching words from McCovey upon winning the 1977 Comeback Player of the Year award: “I’d like to think that when people think of San Francisco, they also think of Willie McCovey,” he told Sports Illustrated. “It’s where I belong. I hope the people there love me a little in return.” ... That was so evident this week as Chronicle readers flooded our emails with reminiscence. “My hero died today,” wrote Scott McKinzie. “I’m right-handed, but when I was eight years old, I began to wear my baseball glove on my right hand, just like Willie did. When I batted, I would shift to the opposite side of the plate, and it developed my left-handed ability and strength. Today, as a dentist, I sometimes place a crown or remove a tooth with my left hand, and I think of Willie every time.” ... And this from Gary Horsman: “As tears slide down my face, Willie slides into heaven. Safe!”