 |
.jpg) |
John Wesley Covington
Philadelphia Phillies
Outfield
Born: March 27, 1932, Laurinburg, NC
Signed: Signed by the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent before 1952 season
Major League Teams: Milwaukee Braves 1956-1961; Chicago White Sox 1961; Kansas City Athletics 1961; Philadelphia Phillies 1961-1965; Chicago Cubs 1966; Los Angeles Dodgers 1966
Died: July 4, 2011, Edmonton, Canada (age 79)
Finally given a chance with regular playing time with the Braves, Wes Covington's second half of the 1957 season helped propel the team to the World Series. In just 96 games, Covington batted .284 with 21 home runs and 65 RBIs, sharing a Braves outfield with Bill Bruton and Henry Aaron (#170). He batted only .208 during the World Series against the Yankees, but made dazzling catches in left in Game 2 and Game 5 to preserve victories, as the Braves ultimately won in seven games. His best season came in 1958 when he batted .330 with 24 home runs and 74 RBIs - all career highs, and all accomplished in only 90 games. Covington batted .269 in the 1958 World Series, although the Braves fell to the Yankees in the rematch.
 |
| 1950-1969 Phillies Photo Cards |
For his career, Covington was a .279 batter with 832 hits, 131 home runs and 499 RBIs.
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime - Fair Lawn, NJ) - Card #497
This is the 13th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March. We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room. This Covington card was a little over $4 and was one of 13 cards purchased from the dealer America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey. I specifically jumped ahead in the dealer's binder, looking for Phillies cards, as I noticed his late series cards were priced a little higher than I'd be willing to pay.
The Card / Phillies Team Set
Perhaps due to it being the final Phillies card in the set, this Covington card proved elusive to me over the past few years. I've unsuccessfully tried to win the card through various eBay auctions since we started collecting this set, and it's not an easy card to find in the wild given the popularity of Phillies baseball cards in our area. I was happy to find this card in the back of the Amercia's Pasttime dealer's binder at The Philly Show. The back of the card highlights Covington's heroics during the 1958 World Series.
1965 Season
Covington was the opening day left fielder for the Phillies, and he'd make only 60 starts at that position throughout the season, losing playing time to Alex Johnson (#352) and Tony Gonzalez (#72). His SABR biography notes he spent the 1964 offseason grumbling about the team's epic collapse the prior season, and then showed up for spring training two weeks late. In 101 total games, he batted .247 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs, and following the season he requested his release. The Phillies ended up trading Covington to the Cubs on January 10, 1966 for outfielder Doug Clemens.
Phillies Career
On July 2, 1961, the Phillies acquired Covington from the Athletics for outfielder Bobby Del Greco, and it was Covington's fourth franchise in three months. The first sentence of Covington's entry in The Phillies Encyclopedia sums up the player much better than I could: "Wes Covington lasted 11 years in the major leagues because of a bat that made a lot of noise and in spite of a mouth that did likewise." He frequently supplied quotes to the media criticizing his teammates or manager Gene Mauch (#489). Slow on the base paths and questionable defensively, Covington made his mark with his offense. In parts of five seasons with the Phillies, he batted .284 with 61 home runs and 237 RBIs and was the team's most regularly used left fielder in 1963 and 1964.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1957 Topps #283
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1957-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Super Teams #37
52 - Covington non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/18/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime - Fair Lawn, NJ) - Card #497
This is the 13th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March. We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room. This Covington card was a little over $4 and was one of 13 cards purchased from the dealer America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey. I specifically jumped ahead in the dealer's binder, looking for Phillies cards, as I noticed his late series cards were priced a little higher than I'd be willing to pay.
Depending on my ability to compose five posts a week on the cards acquired at this show, I should be completely caught up by mid-October. So get used to seeing this passage on the blog! It's entirely feasible we complete our 1965 Topps set by the end of 2022, although nine of the remaining 12 cards needed are fairly expensive.
The Card / Phillies Team Set
Perhaps due to it being the final Phillies card in the set, this Covington card proved elusive to me over the past few years. I've unsuccessfully tried to win the card through various eBay auctions since we started collecting this set, and it's not an easy card to find in the wild given the popularity of Phillies baseball cards in our area. I was happy to find this card in the back of the Amercia's Pasttime dealer's binder at The Philly Show. The back of the card highlights Covington's heroics during the 1958 World Series.
1965 Season
Covington was the opening day left fielder for the Phillies, and he'd make only 60 starts at that position throughout the season, losing playing time to Alex Johnson (#352) and Tony Gonzalez (#72). His SABR biography notes he spent the 1964 offseason grumbling about the team's epic collapse the prior season, and then showed up for spring training two weeks late. In 101 total games, he batted .247 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs, and following the season he requested his release. The Phillies ended up trading Covington to the Cubs on January 10, 1966 for outfielder Doug Clemens.
On July 2, 1961, the Phillies acquired Covington from the Athletics for outfielder Bobby Del Greco, and it was Covington's fourth franchise in three months. The first sentence of Covington's entry in The Phillies Encyclopedia sums up the player much better than I could: "Wes Covington lasted 11 years in the major leagues because of a bat that made a lot of noise and in spite of a mouth that did likewise." He frequently supplied quotes to the media criticizing his teammates or manager Gene Mauch (#489). Slow on the base paths and questionable defensively, Covington made his mark with his offense. In parts of five seasons with the Phillies, he batted .284 with 61 home runs and 237 RBIs and was the team's most regularly used left fielder in 1963 and 1964.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1957 Topps #283
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1957-1966
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Super Teams #37
52 - Covington non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 4/18/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #582 Bob Schmidt - New York Yankees
Previous Card: #582 Bob Schmidt - New York Yankees
Next Card: #584 Harry Bright - Chicago Cubs
No comments:
Post a Comment