Baseball Passings in 2018

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

smg58 wrote: It's kind of surreal (but also indicative of my age at the time) that I first remember Willie McCovey as a first baseman for the Padres.

I similarly remember Pete Rose as a 1st baseman for the Phillies.

[Edgy MD]

Marty Noble wrote a while back about a homer that McCovey hit above the clock at Busch Stadium. It would supposedly be the first topic of conversation when Tim McCarver and Al Jackson would meet every spring in St. Lucie.

"Tim, why'd you call that pitch?"

"Me?! Why'd YOU hang it?"

[Frayed Knot]

sharpie wrote: I was living in the Bay Area during the latter part of McCovey's time with the Giants. His return, and particularly his play in the '78 season, was really quite infectious.

At least a certain percentage of Bay area fans considered McCovey 'theirs', seeing as how his rookie season came in their third season there, as opposed to Mays who, while certainly popular, was
seen more as a NYC transplant.

[G-Fafif]

Gil Hodges implemented a four-man outfield to cut down McCovey's extra-base power in the thirteenth inning of a scoreless game at Shea, a move that paid off perfectly on August 19, 1969, when Willie hit one to deepest left center and Cleon Jones was in position to run it down and make a backhanded catch. Tommie Agee homered to win it, 1-0, in the bottom of the fourteenth. The losing pitcher was Juan Marichal, who had gone the distance.

Giants in those days.

[Guest cooby]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I discovered baseball in 1971, and Willie McCovey was one of the biggest names in the game. I'll always have a special fondness for the superstars of those years because I was eight years old and baseball players were never more larger than life than they were then. Oh, and Charlie Brown was definitely rooting for the Giants against the Yankees in the 1962 World Series. (Note that these two strips were published six weeks apart!)

Me too, very end of 1971. I worshiped all the players from every team, but of course the Mets were my favorites. Only I was 11 or 12. 12 I guess by then

[smg58]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/12/luis-valbuena-former-pirates-infielder-jose-castillo-killed-in-car-accident-in-venezuela.html

An awful tragedy.

[seawolf17]

That is terribly sad. Although honestly, I couldn't tell you what team(s) Valbuena played for. I looked him up and was stunned at how long he'd be in the bigs. Castillo I remember as a Pirates middle infielder, but thought he played for a lot *longer* than he did.

[G-Fafif]

Dirty Al Gallagher, Giants 3B from their 1971 NL West championship team, 73.