What I remember first about Willie McCovey was his size 6’4″. It says 198 in his bio, but he looked heavier and probably was towards the end of his career. The second thing I remember is how he OWNED Don Drysdale. At least it seemed that way. I remember him taking Big D deep many a time. McCovey hit 41 career homers against LA. Most of those off of Big D. I couldn’t find an exact count, but in 1963, by June, he had 47 career at-bats against him with 22 hits, four doubles, a triple, and nine homers. Yep, Willie turned into Paul Bunyan against Big D.
Willie Lee McCovey was born in Mobile, Alabama, on January 10th, 1938. His father, Frank, worked for the railroad as a laborer. His wife, Esther, and he had ten children. Willie was the seventh. His dad was quiet, and his mom ran the household. She was also a disciplinarian. His dad worked hard, and the family never went hungry. They went to church every Sunday.
In the 19’40s and 19’50s, Mobile was not an easy place for a black kid to grow up. They either went into gangs or went into sports. McCovey was lucky as most of his friends were into sports. He played first base in softball, baseball was a high-scoring center in basketball, and played end in football. He and his cohorts often dominated other teams.
One of the playground directors was Jesse Thomas. His brother, “Showboat” Thomas, had played in the Negro Leagues. Thomas was a friend of Alex Pompez, a former Negro League owner who scouted for the New York Giants. Thomas acted as kind of a “bird dog” scout, often alerting Pompez to players he should check out. After Thomas recommended McCovey, Pompez followed up and liked what he saw. Another Mobile area scout, Ed Scott, who signed Aaron for the Indianapolis Clowns, was not of the same opinion. McCovey had one position, 1B, and he did not make contact all that often.
McCovey had quit high school when he was a junior in 1954 to go to work and help the family. He was working in a bakery. In December of 1954, he went to Los Angeles for a visit with his older brother Wyatt for the holidays. He liked it so much that he decided to stay to live and work. That might have been the end of it, but his mother wrote and told him Alex Pompez was trying to reach him. The Giants wanted him to attend a tryout camp in Melbourne, Florida. The team sent him a bus ticket, and he headed east.
Joining him in camp, were several dozen other prospective players. Orlando Cepeda and Jose Pagan were among them. ” I was scared to death, and I couldn’t have impressed anybody.” McCovey later said. But Pompez had seen him play and signed him for $175 a month to play Class-D ball at Sandersville in the Georgia State League. The 17-year-old McCovey had little trouble adjusting to the pro game, hitting .305 with 19 HRs, 24 doubles, 15 stolen bases, and 113 RBIs in 107 games.
In 1957, while playing for AA Dallas, he injured his knee and ankle sliding into third base. It cost him several weeks of play. More importantly, he was never a huge threat to steal after that and was considered slow of foot. But the power was still there. At AAA Phoenix, he hit .319 with 14 HRs while battling knee soreness and visiting orthopedists.
His teammates on that Phoenix team included Ernie Broglio, Leon Wagner, Felipe Alou, Tom Haller, and Willie Kirkland. They were good enough to win the PCL title that year. He went to spring training with the Giants in 1959 at age 20. But he had little chance of making the team. The Giants already had two first-baseman on their roster. Bill White, who had a nice rookie season in 1956, but then spent the next two years in the military, and Orlando Cepeda, the 1959 rookie of the year. McCovey wore a steel brace on his knee and saw very little action. He was sent back to AAA to start the year. He literally forced the Giants’ hand, hitting .372 with 29 dingers and 92 RBIs in 95 games.
His first MLB game was July 30th at Seals Stadium against Robin Roberts of the Phillies. He was hitting third between Mays and Cepeda. All he did was go 4-4 with two triples. A very impressive first game. And he kept hitting. He got his first homer off of Rin Kline. He had his first two-homer game against the Braves Bob Buhl. On August 17, he started a 22-game hitting streak. He ended his debut campaign with a .354/13/38 line.
In those days, the Giants had a theme where they acquired a bunch of talent and eventually mismanaged it. This was especially true at first base. They had traded Bill White in March to the Cardinals, who needed a replacement for the aging Stan Musial. They now controlled two Hall of Fame talents, who both played first base. Instead of trading one of them, they decided to keep them both. They moved Cepeda to third base, and that experiment lasted exactly four games. He had two assists and three errors. Then he moved to left field, and he was also uncomfortable there. Both of the players were 22, Cepeda’s friends told him he should demand to play first. “I was young and sensitive. I know I could have done it if I had put my mind to it,” he said much later.
Bill Rigney, the Giant manager at the time, said, ” Cepeda was the better athlete, and we thought he had a better chance of changing positions.” Cepeda was also right-handed, so moving him was easier. McCovey just wanted to play and was willing to do whatever the team wanted. Rigney also had to find playing time for his other outfielders, Willie Kirkland, Felipe, and Matty Alou.
Cepeda played left most of 1960, and McCovey had a not-so-good season, hitting .238 with 13 homers. Rigney was fired after the 1960 season. Al Dark came in and used McCovey in a platoon system. His defense, never a strong suit anyway, suffered. On the other hand, Cepeda was shuffled between 1st and the outfield, and it did not affect him at all; hitting .311 with 46 HRs and 142 RBIs.
The next season, Dark announced that Cepeda would be his full-time 1st baseman, and McCovey became the left fielder. He had never played the outfield in his life. He was platooning with Harvey Kuenn. Well, we all know how the 62-season ended. Not very well for our boys. McCovey homered off of Ralph Terry in game two, helping the Giants win 2-0. In game 7, with Terry again out there, he hit a triple in the 7th but had the biggest at-bat of his career in the 9th. With two out, two on, McCovey came up. Everyone thought they would walk McCovey and pitch to Cepeda, who was nursing a sore knee, They decided to pitch to him instead, and he hit a bullet line drive right into 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson’s glove, and the Yanks had a 1-0 win and the series.
From 1959-1962. McCovey hit .543 against Big D with seven homers. Gradually Drysdale figured him out, but he still finished his career with a .336 BA and 12 HRs against him. Over the next few years, McCovey played left field and some first base. The Giants changed managers again, and in 1964 his father died, and it took an emotional toll on him. He had a bad season hitting .220 with 18 homers. In 1965, Cepeda, who had been nursing a bad knee, showed up to play for the new manager, Herman Franks. The swelling and pain in his knee had become unbearable, and he played only six games in the field. McCovey took over with 39 HRs and a .276 BA. The next year, Cepeda was healthy, and the Giants had two first basemen again. One with bad knees and the other with bum ankles and feet.
Franks kept McCovey at first and moved Cepeda to left. but it soon became clear that this was not going to work. On May 8th, the 28-year-old Cepeda was traded to the Cardinals for LHP Ray Sadecki. First base finally belonged to Willie Mac. Cepeda would eventually succumb to his bad knees, but he had a few good seasons left, including an MVP season in 1967. Neither he nor McCovey would ever play the outfield again.
Willie would hold on to that job for the most part, except when he was injured until 1973; he got into one more post-season series in 1971, when the Giants lost to the We Are Family Pirates. He hit two homers in that series. His friend and outfield mentor, Willie Mays, was traded to the Mets after the 1972 season as the Giants began to unload their aging high-priced players. After the 1973 season, he was the next to go, traded to the Padres for Mike Caldwell. Juan Marichal was dealt in December, sold to the Red Sox.
He had two remarkably similar seasons with the Padres in 1974-1975. Then after a slow start in 1975, he was sold to the A’s. He did not do well there either and was released after the season. In 1977, he returned to the Giants as a free agent. He had a resurgent season in 77, hitting .280 with 28 HRs. But his injuries started taking their toll again, and he slumped to 228. He did manage 12 HRs. In 1979, he did a little better hitting,249 with 15 long balls. But the end was close, and after the 1980 season, he retired; he had hit his 521st and only homer of the year off of Scott Sanderson of the Expos on May 3rd. That tied him with Ted Williams on the all-time list. He was allowed to go with the team on its last road trip to Los Angeles. The crowd at Dodger Stadium showered him with thundering ovations. His last at-bat was a sac fly to win a game. At 42, his career was over.
In his post-baseball life, McCovey stayed close to the Giants and worked with them in many different positions. He was married twice, the first being very brief, and has a daughter, Allison McCovey. He married a second time in 2018. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986 with 81 percent of the vote. In 1996, he and Duke Snider were charged with tax evasion for not reporting income from autograph appearances at card shows. Willie paid a $5,000 dollar fine. He was pardoned by Barak Obama in 2017. His knees required several surgeries, which eventually left him wheelchair-bound. His health was also not great. He had an infection in 2015 that almost killed him. His career line was .270/521/1555. Willie died on Oct 31, 2018. He had been hospitalized earlier that week with an infection. He was 80 years old. Willie’s long-time friend, Joe Morgan, was at his side when he passed. McCovey always scared me when he came up to the plate against the Dodgers. You always had the feeling something really bad was about to happen.
Future Dodgers Down on the Farm
- OKC was beaten line a Rented Mule 12-1
- Mike Grove went 3.2 innings and allowed 3 Hits, 1 ER, 22, and 4 Ks. That’s the highlight.
- Baez, Alvarez, Burrows, and Bruihl were all BP Pitchers.
- Move on.
- Tulsa beat Midland 3-1
- Lael Lockhart went five and allowed three hits, 0 ERs, 3 BB, and struck out 7.
- Kyle Hurt followed with four innings, four hits, and no runs. He did walk one and struck out 9.
- Both of these pitchers have a nice upside.
- Great Lakes shutout Peoria 2-0
- Nick Nastrini went six innings, allowed two hits and no runs while walking two and striking out 9. He is going to be a beast! He is a beast!
- Eddys Leonard was 2-3
- Jorbit Vivas was 2-2
- Rancho Cucamonga beat Lake Elsinore 12-5
- Luis Rodriguez was 2-4
- Nick Biddison was 3-4
- Kyle Nevin was 1-3 with 2 RBI and 3 BB
- Taylor Young was 2-5 with 3 RBI
- Ronan Kopp was roughed up, allowing 3 ER in 3.2 innings while striking out 7
Discussion (36)
Disagree, not disagreeable
On pace for 114 wins now. But a losing team almost sprung a trap with good pitching but a high count so I’ve got to guess KC has BP woes at least for the Dodgers. How far will they keep this streak going? Will end in KS? Odds vs gods, something has got to give………..and likely sooner than much later.
Whenever a Dodger starter has a no-hitter after five innings, I feel conflicted.
Of course I wanted Gonsolin to go all the way today… but a part of me was hoping KC would get a hit so Roberts could go to the bullpen without controversy.
I’ve always leaned on the “go for it” side. I think pitch counts are overrated. I think a no-hitter would boost the confidence of any pitcher.
Kershaw was OK with getting pulled, apparently, but I still wish he’d stayed in there. (Maybe he was in such fine form he wouldn’t injure his back that day. He injured it later.)
As for the rest of today’s game…;
How about that Trayce Thompson?
So are both Belli and Lux platoon guys now?
Gonso pitched really well.
David Price is the best “worst “ team bullpen option in baseball! By far! What say you Eric?
Second times a charm! They heard you Bear! JT is such a pro!
Three on, no outs and they can’t score? Pathetic. At least Catman is on his game.
So Lux is now a platoon player? Is it just me or do the Dodgers seem to baby Lux? Only two and a half years to go until your sentence is up Juan!
Its just remainder of this year and next 40+ games of 2023 pretty sure.
Reminder, Padres fans: Tatis is ineligible for the playoffs NEXT year too.
“All players who have served a suspension for PEDs in a given season are ineligible for postseason play that year.”
I stand corrected saying the Padres would show. I also now see that Machado is a lazy malcontent, he can play elsewhere when he opts out. Tatis has to be a equally sized knucklehead to keep hurting his team. They will stay the wanna-bees from the south!
Does 80 games mean 80 games or 80 days? And when do they start counting the days? There are still 50 games left this season, does that mean he will miss the rest of the season and the first 30 of the next? or how will it be? please someone explain to me… I have a friend who is an idiot since he is a fan of SD, and I want to laugh and make fun in his stupid face!
This is one of my best moments in baseball… Pathetic?
I know and it’s fine.
If AJ Preller wishes to restock his farm, I’m up for offering Bickford, Kendall and Hoese for Juan Soto
Well, the implosion begins. Just wait until Machado let’s it slip in an interview that he kicks puppies and hates his grandma.
Is a beautiful day, Tatis you are my favorite asshole….
I LOVE YOU PADRES
HA HA HA HA!!
Major League Baseball announced Friday afternoon that Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. has been suspended for 80 games without pay after testing positive for Clostebol, a banned performance-enhancing substance. Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link) reported that Tatis had failed a PED test seconds before the league announcement.
Mariners Designate Ken Giles For Assignment.
Could it be worth taking the risk with him? It would only cost money and it would be cheap.
I’ve read that Vesia could be sent to the minor leagues before Ferguson, I understand that since the numbers of both speak for themselves, but I don’t remember if Ferguson has been sent to the mound with runners on base, I think he always comes in to start innings, and Vesia has been used mainly with runners on base, I think that speaks volumes about the confidence that is had
Tatis suspended 80 games for PEDs….hahahaha
Fernando Tatis suspended 80 games for performance enhancing drugs!
I saw Fear Strikes Out. I thought it told the story well, but I was too young to be much of a film critic. Years earlier I saw Angels in the Outfield. It was a very funny movie, but again, I wasn’t much of a critic back then. Sometime in the 90’s I watched McCovey in a pro/am tournament associated with Senior Golf Tour in Mason Ohio. (Carl Yastrzemski was there as well.) I probably don’t need to tell you McCovey could hit a golf ball a mile.
Any one remember the movie about Jimmy Piersol (?Spelling), Fear Strikes Out?
Goodbye Rylan…. Maybe!
DODGERS SELECT TONY WOLTERS
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers selected catcher Tony Wolters and placed catcher Austin Barnes on the family emergency list. Additionally, the Dodgers designated infielder Rylan Bannon.
Wolters, 30, joins the Dodgers for the first time this season. With Triple-A Oklahoma City, he was batting .216 with seven doubles, one triple and 24 RBI in 50 games. He has been in the Major Leagues parts of six seasons with the Colorado (2016-2020) and Chicago (2021), batting .236 (259-for-1099) with seven homers and 123 RBI in 405 games. He was signed by the Dodgers on December 18, 2021.
Barnes, 32, has appeared in 42 games for the Dodgers this season, hitting .171 with four doubles, four homers and 15 RBI. He has been with the Dodgers the last eight seasons and he has slashed .221/.331/.680 with 28 homers and 127 RBI. He owns a .993 fielding percentage with 77 assists in 317 games at catcher. He was originally traded to the Dodgers on December 11, 2014 from the Miami Marlins along with left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney, right-handed pitcher Chris Hatcher and infielder Kiké Hernández in exchange for infielders Dee Gordon-Strange and Miguel Rojas and right-handed pitcher Dan Haren.
8:10 PM ET
Dodgers (77-33)
Royals (47-66)
SP Tony Gonsolin R
13-1 2.30 ERA 109.2IP 102K 29 BB
Daniel Lynch L
4-7 4.79 ERA 89.2IP 86K 33BB
Confirmed Lineup
RF Mookie Betts R
SS Trea Turner R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
DH J. Turner R
LF Chris Taylor R
3B Max Muncy L
2B H. Alberto R
CF T. Thompson R
Clear-day
0% Rain
88° Wind 9 mph R-L
I don’t know if anyone read this:
https://theathletic.com/3499378/2022/08/12/the-dodgers-are-winning-games-at-a-historic-clip-weve-all-felt-the-special-feeling/
“Over the Dodgers’ past 162 regular-season games, they’ve gone 118-44. They brought in Freeman to replace the production of Corey Seager, who left in free agency. Despite Max Scherzer leaving for New York and Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw missing significant time on the injured list, they’ve cobbled together the league’s best pitching staff.
And now, they’re winning games at an unprecedented rate given the era. That 162-game mark would be the best in baseball history over a full season. The only other clubs close to that mark since expansion (since 1961) have been the early 2000s Mariners (who matched the single-season record with 116 wins in 2001) and late ’90s Yankees (who won 114 in 1998). Expand the search, and this is the winningest stretch of regular-season baseball since Cleveland went 118-42 (plus two ties) over parts of the 1954 and 1955 seasons. No “
I’m probably alone here but I wouldn’t say ‘Field Of Dreams’ was a good movie in any fashion. To me it was worse than just a movie. Not enough substance even for a short story. I can see why they make a big deal out of the games played on the set but the movie wasn’t really about baseball and the plot was weak. I know it’s been more than 50 years since I had seen ‘Damn Yankees’ but I think I could probably enjoy seeing it again even though I’m not much into musicals. Ray Ralston played a pretty good Satan. Vin Scully and Steve Lyons made ‘For Love Of The Game’ worth watching as they brought the feel of a real game. Gary Cooper fit the part of Lou Gehrig so well that when I think of Gehrig I see Gary Cooper. I think probably my favorite baseball movie is ‘The Sandlot’ or maybe ‘MajorLeague’
Read about Lincecum’s wife the other day. sad This morning actress Ann Heche died while in a coma. I remember Candlestick well for a couple things, one, Roseboro-Marichal, and the other, Stu Miller getting blown off of the mound.
Speaking of the Giants, Tim Lincecum’s wife died from a battle with cancer at only 38
She was taken way too young, may she Rest In Peace
Great article Bear. Whenever I think about Giants/Dodger rivalry always think of Candlestick. Cold,super windy – paper blowing everwhere and crazy games up there. No lead was safe in those conditions. Giants had formidable team with Big Mac,Bonds,Speier,Maddux,Matthews,Fuentes,Kingman back early-mid 70s. Great memories !
This on was one of my favorites, Bear. It brings back very special memories. My uncle George was crippled as a kid from Polio. He was an aircraft engineer as an adult but was very limited with his mobility. He lived in Tracy Cal and loved both the Dodgers and the Giants and listened to every game he could get on his radio. He had one of those half-n-half ball caps that had the Dodger stuff on one side and Giant stuff on the other. He would spin it around to suit who he was listening to.
So when I visited him once, I arranged a trip to Candlestick for a day game, thankfully. It was a good set up. I could drive him to a ramp that had great accessibility into the stadium. I could get him a direct shot in his wheelchair from the car to the concourse. It became one of my fondest memories ever. After listening to hundreds of games, and never attending one, the look on his face when he saw the green grass of the infield, as I wheeled him in, was priceless. I have never seen a grown man so happy. We had a great time and he never forgot the experience.
At the game we saw Willie McCovey was on a hot streak. He hit a couple of shots so hard, I couldn’t believe it. One was a line drive double that didn’t get high enough to go over the fence. Obviously this was well before any thoughts of measuring exit velocity but it had to be 110. It hit that old chain link fence so hard and fast I though it might go through the fence. The next was a bomb, easily out in left-center. He was raking. The All-Star Game was soon after and he hit the crap out of the ball in that game as I recall.
Anyway Bear, you brought those memories back to me. You know I like your trips down Memory Lane, but this one was extra special.
Seems like a slow day here following an off day. Is no one excited about the upcoming Royals series?
We just missed old friend Zach Greinke, but we’ll at least get to see old friend Carlos Santana, the one that got away in the Casey Blake deal. Not much else exciting about the second to last place Royals roster.
As Bear alluded to, the Dodgers seem to play down in these “trap series”. But, the second-tier pitching that the Royals have to offer seem to be the kind of guys the Dodgers love to clean up on. But, then again, we did lose a series to the Nats and a couple to the Pirates and Rockies if I’m not mistaken.
Going in, the team is mostly healthy except for the newly suffered hand injury by Muncy and the pitching that’s on the IL. Not to worry as there seems to be endless depth on the roster that’s survived mostly no production by Muncy all season until late and too many pitchers to carry on any 40-man roster, except for our own.
Speaking of pitching. Dustin May is scheduled to be activated sometime after his last rehab start this weekend. It’s expected that he’ll be back for the Marlin’s series that begins on the 19th. Brusdar and Treinen will begin their respective rehab assignments this weekend just as May’s is coming to an end. With Almonte, supposed short IL Stint, eligible to come off on Monday, August 22, the team will have a crowded and potentially the strongest staff, top to bottom that they’ve had all season.
The caveat is they’ll have to make room on the 40 man roster for Treinen and May, in addition to Eddie Rios once his rehab assignment ends. The Dead Pool begins. Who will be the first three players to get the axe from the 40 man roster and in what order? Here’s my guesses.
Rylan Bannon
Eddy Alvarez
Justin Bruihl and Jake Reed are a toss-up for me. If I had to choose, I’ll say Jake Reed since Bruihl is left handed and younger and has more team control.
At some point, Walker Buehler will also have to come off the 60-day requiring another 40-man DFA. Other possibilities this season include V-Gone, Duffy, Kahnle and even Jimmy Nelson. Although, some or all from this group may only get activated if there’s a season-ending injury to another player.
The pitching staff will look pretty scary in a couple of weeks. I know that Kimbrel is already scary, but the rest of them will be scary in a good way.
Rotation
Gonsolin – R
Urias – L
May – R
Anderson – L
Heaney – L
Bullpen
Kimbrel – R
Phillips – R
Ferguson – L
Almonte – R
Graterol – R
Vesia – L
Price – L
Martin – R
Once rosters expand in September, We’ll make room for Kershaw, Buehler and Treinen. That’s when it gets interesting. With three guys for 2 spots it’s anyone’s guess who goes down to make room.
Heaney and Buehler could end up as bullpen pieces for the rest of the September schedule. With 3 lefties already in the pen, it could be that Price finally gets a September cut, but more than likely, Vesia gets to take a breather down the stretch since he has options and Ferguson has been much more effective.
So, Tony Gonsolin goes on seven days’ rest tonight…
Maybe that will reenergize him.
Nice story, Bear. I remember Willie McCovey well and what he did to DD.
Don Drysdale still has one of the coolest book titles:
After graduating from a university in the Bay Area, I followed my soon-to-be wife to Los Angeles.
Her family had season tickets to Dodger Stadium, Lodge level, aisle 112, row “O,” seats 1-4, between Home Plate and First Base.
My first game in those seats convinced me that the Dodgers were my team, with no swirling dust clouds, no fog hiding centerfield, and no trash blowing in the wind.
I didn’t have to dress like an Eskimo to enjoy a baseball game.
When you also consider the view of the palm trees and San Gabriel mountains over the center field fence. Then you add in Vin Scully, Sutton, Buckner and especally – Vin Scully how could I not be a fan?
Plus, and I am not sure that I remember this clearly, but I believe that being a Dodger fan was part of my wedding vows.
Nice walk down memory lane Bear, THANK YOU !
Bob Gibson said McCovey was the scariest hitter in baseball . others have said they’ve never seen a ball come off the bat as hard as Willie’s
I found a nice interview with Willie from 1963.
He talks about gaining weight, the size of his bats during the season and how he has dealt with the boos
I think many here will find it interesting
https://m.facebook.com/kcramichelledapper/videos/kcra-exclusive-a-tribute-to-willie-mccovey-part-2/724115801281772/
I don’t know how people decide to be a fan of one team or another. Maybe family traditions, proximity, or some other reason or reasons.
I have to admit that I wasn’t always a Dodgers fan (but I have been for the past fifty years.)
In my youth, I was a San Francisco Giants fan.
I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley. I was forced into it.
My second experience with the Giants was a visit to Candlestick Park and the Giants locker room. (My first was a very cold night game at Seals Stadium.)
My father was a contractor and had done work for Chris Pelekoudas, a National League umpire. Mr. Pelekoudas invited us to a Giants game (it was a day game and freezing even though it was July.) We also visited the Giants locker room after the game.
I met Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda. Willie and Orlando each autographed a baseball for me and were exceptionally gracious.
Willie Mays walk by, but he never said “Hey.”
It was also my first time to see men in jockstraps.
It was an eye-opening day on multiple levels.
As you can probably understand, I had no choice, but to be a Giants fan. But then again, I was very young and didn’t know any better.
KC is a trap series. So the Dodgers better take charge early and not let up. I have seen Sunday’s starter, Singer, pitch a couple of times. He has some nasty stuff when his control is right.