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I'm a lifelong baseball fan and Bay Area native as was my father. My parents were both Bay Area natives, but I don't think my mother was much of a fan until she met my dad.
My dad was born in the 20s, grew up in SF, and saw DiMaggio and Williams play in the minors, and later in MLB.
I was too young to really know much of what was going on, but I was in the stands at Candlestick with my parents during Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the 1962 World Series, including the final out in Game 7 off of McCovey's bat.
I spent a number of afternoons at Candlestick Park while I was growing up, privileged to see him play.
I also remember, in 1976, when he was briefly in an Oakland A's uniform.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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I grew up in the NYC area. My Dad, a Giants fan, took us on what to a 10 year old seemed a long journey to Philadelphia to see what I believe was McCovey's first appearance there, IIRC it was a double-header.
Good days they were sitting in the stands with my Dad, hot-dog in hand, inhaling the scent of freshly mown grass while watching the best in their sport.
Bad week for the franchise. This past Monday, former Giants announcer Hank Greenwald died.
A sad day for baseball fans in the Bay area indeed.
It's a very short list in regards to a Major League player who hit home runs in four different decades, McCovey was one of them. Was a rookie in 1959 and got out of the gate with a great season. Retired with 521 home runs.
I remember from watching different tv interviews that McCovey had been in a wheelchair for a long time. Sad. I've read different stories online this morning and they don't really pinpoint the cause of death, they just say he had several health issues. One of the greatest players in the history of the Giant organization. And one of the classiest players as well. RIP, Willie.
A sad day for baseball fans in the Bay area indeed.
It's a very short list in regards to a Major League player who hit home runs in four different decades, McCovey was one of them. Was a rookie in 1959 and got out of the gate with a great season. Retired with 521 home runs.
I remember from watching different tv interviews that McCovey had been in a wheelchair for a long time. Sad. I've read different stories online this morning and they don't really pinpoint the cause of death, they just say he had several health issues. One of the greatest players in the history of the Giant organization. And one of the classiest players as well. RIP, Willie.
The Giants are a sentimental franchise with a great deal of their marketing spun around the great players in its history. Willie Mays was obviously the greater player, but the affable McCovey seemed to earn the love of the fans which the sometimes grouchy and self centered Mays did not. That is why there is a Willie Mac Award each year rather than a Willie Mays Award.
Hank Greenwald was my favorite announcer. He seemed to have exactly the same whimsical sense of humor that I have and he never took the games very seriously, his notion was that a ballgame was something to be enjoyed and he was very talented in passing along that sense to his listeners. I loved his deadpan delivery of humor....like when Gary Templeton fouled a ball into the stands and a fan made a good catch...Greenwald "Gotta hand it to that fan, who thinks to play Templeton there?"
If I could chosen anyone in the world to sit with to watch a ballgame, it would have been Hank.
The Giants are a sentimental franchise with a great deal of their marketing spun around the great players in its history. Willie Mays was obviously the greater player, but the affable McCovey seemed to earn the love of the fans which the sometimes grouchy and self centered Mays did not. That is why there is a Willie Mac Award each year rather than a Willie Mays Award.
Hank Greenwald was my favorite announcer. He seemed to have exactly the same whimsical sense of humor that I have and he never took the games very seriously, his notion was that a ballgame was something to be enjoyed and he was very talented in passing along that sense to his listeners. I loved his deadpan delivery of humor....like when Gary Templeton fouled a ball into the stands and a fan made a good catch...Greenwald "Gotta hand it to that fan, who thinks to play Templeton there?"
If I could chosen anyone in the world to sit with to watch a ballgame, it would have been Hank.
In the early 90s a female friend of mine bought a newer car and wanted to put a better than factory stereo in it. Another friend of ours had a cousin who worked at a car audio place that was in Los Altos? Redwood City? (can't remember which city) and said that her cousin could likely get our fiend a better deal than what she had found to that point re what she wanted. We drove to the large shop one Saturday and walked in. The cousin was behind the counter facing toward the front door (facing us) and a grumpy male customer (who had his back to us when we walked in) was finishing chewing him out. The customer finished, turned around, walked past us, and left the store. I thought to myself....that was Willie Mays. We walked up to the counter and I said to the friend's cousin "Wasn't that Willie Mays?" The friend's cousin shook his head and said "Yep".
In the early 90s a female friend of mine bought a newer car and wanted to put a better than factory stereo in it. Another friend of ours had a cousin who worked at a car audio place that was in Los Altos? Redwood City? (can't remember which city) and said that her cousin could likely get our fiend a better deal than what she had found to that point re what she wanted. We drove to the large shop one Saturday and walked in. The cousin was behind the counter facing toward the front door (facing us) and a grumpy male customer (who had his back to us when we walked in) was finishing chewing him out. The customer finished, turned around, walked past us, and left the store. I thought to myself....that was Willie Mays. We walked up to the counter and I said to the friend's cousin "Wasn't that Willie Mays?" The friend's cousin shook his head and said "Yep".
I moved to San Francisco in 1973, Mays was a Met in his final year as a player, so I never got to see him play in SF. I had been a big fan of his career, but really knew nothing about him save all that Say Hey Kid stuff the writers put out.
After a few seasons had gone by, the Giants started having Mays as a guest in the radio booth during games. It was my first exposure to Mays as a person, talking freely, and he was horrible. Very mean spirited criticisms of the players on the field, he would keep talking when the announcers were trying to get him to shut up long enough for them to describe the play on the field. Mays would manage to take any question about the team and turn it into a story about himself. He was grumpy, he was condescending, way before Barry Bonds, Mays was Barry Bonds, the best player in the game but a social scapegrace.
Mays was fortunate that he played in an era where the media would work to mask such characteristics in sports heroes. Once he was away from that protection his real personality spilled out. And it wasn't just Mays having a bad day, on his subsequent appearances on radio or TV broadcasts, he was always like that.
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