Ranking The Top 10 Giants Of All-Time: Position-by-Position
By zacklosel
# 5 – 1st Base – Willie McCovey
Career: .270 AVG / 521 HR / 1555 RBI /
Accolades:
1986 Hall of Fame inductee.
6-Time All-Star.
1959 Rookie Of The Year.
1969 National League Most Valuable Player.
Most homeruns by a first baseman (521).
During a dominant era in pitching, McCovey became one of the most consistent left handed power hitters of the time. Big and strong, there‘s not much Willie “Stretch” McCovey couldn’t do once he made his debut for San Francisco in 1959. With solid defense and amazing power, he literally scared opposing pitchers …
“McCovey didn’t hit any cheap ones. When he belts a homerun, he does it with such authority, it seems like an act of G-d. You can’t cry about it,” said former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Walter Aston.
His bat was so impressive that fellow Giants legend Orlando Cepeda was asked to switch to third base (and eventually the outfield where he was marginally better) to make room for the 6’4”, two hundred pound towering first baseman, and for good reason; he would go on to put up excellent numbers for the rest of his career in San Francisco, and was a mainstay in the heart of the club’s order.
McCovey finished his career with five hundred twenty one home runs, tied with fellow baseball greats Frank Thomas, and Ted Williams for the eighteenth most homers in the game.
More importantly, though, he leads the majors with the most home runs of any first baseman, with five hundred twenty one.