"McCovey."

I've been a New York Yankees fan for 40 years *.  Before that, as a child, I was a San Francisco Giants fan and that means I was a fan of the late WILLIE McCOVEY, who died yesterday at age 80.

It also means that I'm a bit sad today, thinking of the huge (6'4") slugger who had nicknames such as "Stretch" and "Big Mac."  Sad, because he's gone and one of the BETTER parts of my childhood went with him.  Sad, also, because I never got to meet him (as I have met OTHERS of my boyhood heroes)....and sad because there's no solid indication that I'll ever meet Willie in Heaven one day, no indication that he ever got saved (but then again, who knows?  Hopefully, I'll be surprised.)

Yes, McCovey was a key part of the very first baseball team I loved, the S.F. Giants of the 1960s.

When my new wife Mercedes and I visited the Hall of Fame recently, I took pics of the plaques of the five key Giants players on those teams.  Willie Mac was one of this "Fantastic Five.".

He will be missed, and I admit to shedding a few tears today.  I hope "Stretch" DID trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin before he passed away.  One thing is for sure...batting .270 with 521 homers and 1,555 RBIs may get you into the Hall of Fame, but it won't get you into Heaven.

Above: McCovey's plaque in the Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY, where he was inducted in 1986.

Me, and my FAVORITE player's plaque...the great Willie MAYS, the greatest all-around player of all-time!!        McCovey batted BEHIND Mays in the lineup and afforded him "protection." 

The other three Hall of Famers from the 1960's Giants: Perry, Cepeda and Marichal.  (I could add in Warren Spahn and Duke Snider, but they only played ONE YEAR with San Fran...1964...their LAST...so I don't count those.) With all of that talent, the Giants NEVER won a Championship!!

Book I self-published about 5 years ago, "Tales of Willie McCovey."  The "44" was his number when he played, and "Chet" and "Beth" (my first wife, who died 1-and-a-half years ago) were part of the book, one of the three "Tales." Our names had four letters each so I had my son Rob, the graphic designer, incorporate them into McCovey's "44."

Lyrics to song I wrote, "THE GREAT WILLIE MAC," which was part of the book.  I wrote this for McCovey's 75th birthday in 2013 and  the words explore the bond between Mays and McCovey. My OTHER son JOEL (Rob's twin) is a musician and I asked him to set these lyrics to music.

Try clicking on the pic to blow it up if you can't read the words.  If I were writing those lyrics today, I'd just add "The Late, Great Willie Mac."  No other changes!!

 Finally, BEAUTIFUL writeup in one of the New York papers today.  I wrote to the editor and commended him for honoring "Stretch" with a full-page article.

* I used to HATE the Yanks, especially after Game 7 of the 1962 World Series when Willie McCovey lined out and we lost Game 7 (and the Series), 1-0.  I was seven years old then.  Ten years LATER, in 1972, Willie MAYS came to the New York Mets.  At that time, the Giants were fading and I was tired of following a West Coast team, so I started following the Mets as they were East Coast (like me) and had MAYS now (even though HE was fading, also.)

Mays retired after '73 and out in Frisco, BOBBY BONDS started to seem like "The Next Willie Mays," so I went back to following the Giants. But then, in '75, Bonds was traded to the New York YANKEES and over the next three years I gradually became a Yankee fan.  They TOTALLY won me over with their miracle comeback of 1978 which reminded me of the GIANTS' legendary comeback against the Dodgers in '51...(the learning of which made me a Giants' fan in the FIRST place!!)