Willie McCovey

Willie Lee McCovey (January 10, 1938 – October 31, 2018), nicknamed "Stretch" and "Willie Mac," was an American professional baseball player who appeared in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1959 to 1980. He spent 19 seasons with the San Francisco Giants, the team with which he was most closely associated, and played for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics in the latter part of his career.

A left-handed power hitter, McCovey was a dead-pull line drive hitter, prompting some teams to employ a defensive shift against him. Pitcher Bob Gibson called him "the scariest hitter in baseball," a characterization seconded by Reggie Jackson. He hit 521 home runs, 231 of them at Candlestick Park, the most by any player at that ballpark. At the time of his retirement in 1980, he ranked second only to Babe Ruth in career home runs among left-handed batters and seventh overall; as of 2022, he stood 20th on baseball's all-time home run list, tied with Ted Williams and Frank Thomas.

McCovey was a six-time All-Star, a three-time home run champion, and a Most Valuable Player. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986, his first year of eligibility, becoming only the 16th player elected in his initial year on the ballot at that time.