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MLB deaths: The 2018 All-Eternal Team

By Bill Felber

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /
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MLB deaths
FLUSHING, NY – 1965: Outfielder Willie Maays #24 (left) and firstbaseman Willie MccCovey #44 (right) of the San Francisco Giants flank rookie outfielder Ron Swwoboda #14 of the New York Mets as they pose for a portrait prior to a game in 1965 at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York. (Photo by: Kidwiler Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images) /

1B) Willie McCovey, 1959-1980, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Oakland A’s

A mid-season 1959 call-up, Willie McCovey enjoyed a 22-season career that took him to the Hall of Fame.

McCovey hit .354 in his rookie season for the Giants, enough to be a unanimous Rookie of the Year selection. He led the National League in home runs three times: 1963 (44), 1968 (36) and 1945 (45). In the two latter seasons, he also led in RBIs with 105 and 126.

For his career, he amassed 521 home runs and 1,555 RBIs with a .270 batting average and a .515 slugging average.

A six-time All Star, he was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1969.

Traded by the Giants to San Diego following the 1973 season, he was sold to the Athletics late in the 1976 season, and signed as a free agent back with the Giants for his final four seasons. He retired during the 1980 season and was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1986.

McCovey batted .310 in 8 post-season games, although, ironically, he may be best-remembered for an out. With two out in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1962 World Series, McCovey’s Giants trailing the Yankees 1-0 and Matty Alou representing the tying run at third base, McCovey smashed a Ralph Terry pitch directly into the mitt of Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson for the final series out. Had the drive been aimed anywhere but directly at Richardson, Alou would have scored the game-tying run.

Associated with the Giants for many years in retirement, McCovey died Oct. 31 of an infection following chronic health problems.

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