#176 Willie McCovey - San Francisco Giants

Willie Lee McCovey
San Francisco Giants
Outfield

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  198
Born:  January 10, 1938, Mobile, AL
Signed:  Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent, March 12, 1955
Major League Teams:  San Francisco Giants 1959-1973; San Diego Padres 1974-1976; Oakland Athletics 1976; San Francisco Giants 1977-1980
Died:  October 31, 2018, Palo Alto, CA (age 80)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1986

August 2019 - Overlooking McCovey Cove

Willie McCovey enjoyed a 22-year Hall of Fame career that saw him reach the All-Star Game six times and earn N.L. MVP honors in 1969.  He appeared in only 52 games his rookie season in 1959, but his .354 average along with 13 home runs were enough to make him the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year.  McCovey, nicknamed "Stretch," led the league in home runs in 1963, 1968 and 1969.  He also led the league in RBIs in those latter two years, with his 1969 season leading to his MVP award with a .320 average, 45 home runs and 126 RBIs.  He had been previously named the MVP of the 1969 All-Star Game after hitting two home runs in the contest.  McCovey played in one World Series, with the Giants losing in 1962 to the Yankees.

McCovey had 521 career home runs when he retired, placing him seventh on the all-time list at the time.  He accumulated a lifetime batting average of .270 with 1,555 RBIs.  McCovey hit his final home run on May 3, 1980, giving him the distinction, along with Ted Williams, Rickey Henderson and Omar Vizquel, of having homered in four different decades.  His 18 grand slams are the most ever in the National League.

The Giants retired his #44 in 1980, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986, his first year of eligibility.  When the Giants moved into their new ballpark in 2000 (now called Oracle Park), the San Francisco Bay inlet beyond the right field fence was named McCovey Cove.

Building the Set

February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #83
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  This was our first baseball card show of 2020 and the fourth show we've attended in Valley Forge since March 2019.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.  We ended up adding 23 cards to our set, with this being the last one.

In the general vicinity of the autograph seekers' holding pen was a table hosted by Bel Air Sports Cards out of Bel Air, Maryland.  The dealer had neatly organized stacks of star cards from the 1960s on display and I started browsing through the 1965 Topps stack.  I found four cards I liked, got Doug's approval, and handed the cards to the dealer to tally up my total.  The prices on the four cards totaled $50 and I was prepared to pay that amount as the sign advertising the cards indicated they had already been marked down.  The dealer said, "How about $45 for the lot," and I accepted.  This McCovey card was originally marked at $15.

The scan shown above are my notes from the show, memorializing for my records where the cards came from and how much we paid for them.

The Card
The Giants have some great looking cards in the 1965 Topps set, and this card is no exception.  The back mentions McCovey's 1959 Rookie of the Year Award honors.

Topps issued a painted version of the card in its 2001 Topps Gallery Heritage insert set, and there's a reprint of the card in the 2012 Topps Archives Reprints insert set.

Giants Team Set

1965 Season
McCovey was moved to first base at the start of the 1965 season to replace the injured Orlando Cepeda (#360) and he'd end up starting 150 of the Giants' 163 games at first base.  He responded with another successful season, hitting .276 with 39 home runs and 92 RBIs.  Both marks were second on the club behind Willie Mays (#250), who had an MVP season with 52 home runs and 112 RBIs.  McCovey finished second in the league behind Mays in home runs, and he was also second in the league in walks with 88.  He finished in the top five in the league in both on-base and slugging percentage.  The Giants were in the mix for the pennant until the final week of the season when the Dodgers pulled ahead of them.

1960 Topps #316

1969 Topps #440

1972 Topps #280

1975 Topps #450

1980 Topps #335

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1960 Topps #316
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (21):  1960-1980
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Heritage '71 Topps Greatest Moments Boxloader #19

1,385 - McCovey non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/24/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Prior Card:  #175 Bob Aspromonte - Houston Astros

Next Card:  #177 Pete Mikkelsen - New York Yankees