R.I.P Willie McCovey

UncleScoopy

The Giants legend has passed away at 80

He hit more than 500 homers and led the NL three times. In 1965 he and Willie Mays teamed up to hit 91 homers.

UPDATE:

One commenter made an interesting point – Willie frequently had more walks than strikeouts, including four consecutive years. In fact, in his MVP year he drew so many walks that he led the NL in on-base percentage (not to mention in slugging average as well). In his prime, from 1965 to 1971, ages 27 to 33, his on-base percentage was a sparkling .404 for that seven-year period. He led the league in OPS three consecutive times during that period.

Here’s a measure of how much respect pitchers had for Willie: before Barry Bonds came along, Willie held the major league record for intentional walks in a season.

4 thoughts on “R.I.P Willie McCovey”

  1. It’s amazing he won rookie of the year despite playing only 52 games. Basically 1/3rd of the year.

    1. But then again, how many rookies hit .354?

      There was no contest, by the way. Willie was the unanimous selection.

      But although it was unanimous, there was a lot of luck involved in that vote.

      Why?

      Vada Pinson had one of the greatest rookie years in history that season. He batted .316 with 205 hits. He amassed 131 runs scored, 47 doubles and 20 homers. He also stole 21 bases and became the regular center fielder.

      There was only one problem. He had 96 at bats the previous year, and at that time the MLB rule required a rookie to have fewer than 90 previous at bats! That eligibility rule was eventually changed to 130 at bats (the current standard) , but sadly for Vada and happily for McCovey, 90 was the magic number at the time.

      1. Oh he definitely deserved the ROY, don’t get me wrong, especially in hindsight. I just recall a couple of years ago, when Connor McDavid played 45 out of a possible 82 games in the NHL, and as a result many voters refused to even consider him for ROY, even though he was far and away the best player (and has won the scoring title every year since). “Missed too many games” was their argument. That’s why I was amazed (and heartened) to see McCovey’s 52 GP in his rookie year.

        Thanks for the info about Pinson. I didn’t know that. Tough break for him.

  2. Pujols did it for awhile but I miss the years where sluggers had more walks that Ks. Willie did it six times

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