Final Card Friday: 1980 Willie McCovey

In a perfect world, Willie McCovey’s career would have ended after his stellar 1977 season or after a World Series title for the San Francisco Giants. Instead, it ended at the All-Star break in 1980.

My first connection with McCovey came in 1981 when I bought his 1977 Topps baseball card at a flea market in Fern Park, Florida. It’s not worth much, but I’ve kept it all these years out of respect for the fearsome slugger.  With McCovey’s recent passing, I flipped through my old baseball cards to have another look.

Flipping it over, I noticed McCovey only managed 500+ at-bats three times in his career. More than anything, his knees were the reason he was limited in so many seasons. McCovey had dozens of procedures on BOTH knees throughout his life.

Early in his career, the major reason for low at-bat totals was Orlando Cepeda. It was a struggle to get into the lineup when another future Hall of Fame first baseman was on the roster. However, once Cepeda was traded to St. Louis in 1966, McCovey was able to entrench himself at first base and not worry about his painful knees giving out in the outfield. Not surprisingly what followed was three of McCovey’s best seasons, highlighted by his 1969 MVP season.

Willie McCovey’s final APBA card should perform better than his actual season. I project this card to produce a .218 average compared with the .204 he actually hit. This is the original card APBA created for Stretch. In subsequent printings, it’s been adjusted for better accuracy. Unfortunately, this isn’t much of a card. There are no first column 1s like you’d expect from a McCovey card. If anything, it looks like a modern DH card.

It’s interesting to wonder what kind of numbers Willie McCovey might have put up if he had been healthier and played in a more hitter-friendly ballpark. If things were different, I’m pretty sure he would have reached 600+ home runs. He might have even made a run at 3,000 hits, but he qualified just once for the batting title in his final ten seasons. But, that’s the thing about career achievements in baseball. A player needs some luck and toughness. I’m betting McCovey had toughness, but he certainly didn’t have luck when it came to his health.  Nonetheless, Stretch was one of the greatest sluggers of his era and deserved first-ballot induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame. For those lucky enough to see him play, I’m sure many positive memories came to mind after his recent passing.