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Willie McCovey

Baseball is an outdoor sport in which a pitcher pitches a hard, fist sized ball to the hitting area of a batter. The batter hits the hard ball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made up of wood or metal. The batsman scores by running counter-clockwise within the four markers called the bases arranged at the corners of a diamond. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball.

Willie McCovey was born on January 10, 1938, in Mobile, Alabama. McCovey was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on July 30, 1959, with the San Francisco Giants. His height is six feet four inches with 210 lbs. McCovey came within inches of being a World Series hero.

After belting 29 homers in three months in the Pacific Coast League in 1959, McCovey joined the Giants in the middle of the season and debuted by going 4-for-4 with two singles and two triples against Robin Roberts. He hit 0.354 that year and, despite playing in only 52 games, won NL Rookie of the Year honors.

McCovey first led the NL, National League in homers in 1963, with 44, and won the title again in 1968, with 36, and in 1969, with 45. For four consecutive seasons, 1967-1970, he led the NL in home run percentage. In 1970 the slugger homered in all twelve parks, one of the few players ever to accomplish that feat. McCovey hit a grand slam and a solo home run in the same inning against the NL champion Cincinnati Reds, becoming the only player in history to hit two home runs in one inning twice.

McCovey had his banner year in 1969 and won the MVP, Most Valuable Player award. In addition to leading the NL with 45 homers, 126 RBI Run Batted In, and a 0.656 slugging percentage, he drew a record 45 intentional walks and finished fifth with a 0.320 batting average. His 9.2 home run percentage that year is one of the highest ever. McCovey's appearance in the 1969 All-Star Game was his third of six, and he paced the NL to a 9-3 victory with two home runs.

The final hurrah of McCovey's career came in 1980 when he hit his only home run of the season and the 521st and final one of his career. McCovey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

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