A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Yesterday’s loss was a mess, no desire on my part to beat that to death.  Still, after a loss it’s comforting to remember a bit of glory.  The other day when I went to ATT with the Snarkkettes, after the lousy loss to the Pads, we made the pilgrimage to the McCovey statue out on the point beyond McCovey Cove.  I’d actually never gone out there before.  And, for my favorite Giant, it was worth it.

The larger-than-life artwork well captures McCovey’s might, his gravitas, his presence.  We could use him now, for sure, with first base such a wasteland at the moment.  I’ve always wondered if to properly honor this gentleman, this great player, was that really the best place for Stretch’s statue, far away from the stadium?  It is windswept, barren, out of the way.  Quiet.  But, I now conclude, somehow fitting.  The uncrowded, unharried, focused look at his follow through reminds you, if you were a fan then, of how when Barry Bonds was in diapers, every single Stretch AB was always an event inside every game.  If you are young enough to only know him from old, grainy film, the statue does provoke a raw sense of the murderous majesty of his stroke.  The sweeping loneliness of the place where it stands gives you a shiver – likely how any opposing pitcher of his time felt peering in at that 6’ 4” of pure terror.

I harken back to 1969, his MVP year, records of which are set in a metal plaque on the way out to the statue among plaques for the other SF years.  Get a load of this 1969 line:

1. PAs   623
2. ABs   491
3. BA      .320
4. OBP    .453
5. SLG     .656
6. OPS     1.109
7. HR       45
8. RBI     126
9. BB       121
10. IBB       45
11. Runs   101
12. Doubles  26

In the days of no ‘roids and playing at the Stick, this record of the man’s highest accomplishment seen in 1969, culminating the  golden era of NL ball that was the ‘60s, is nothing short of amazing, beyond mind-boggling.  The 121 walks in those pre-Bonds days was astronomical, a testament to the fear Stretch put into pitchers and managers.  Here’s just a few of the arms he went yard against in ‘69:  Tom Seaver, Phil Niekro, Dick Selma (3), Rick Wise (3), Jack Billingham, Claude Osteen, Fergie Jenkins, Gary Gentry, Jim Bunning, Nelson Briles, Bill Stoneman, Ron Reed, Clay Kirby, Don Sutton.  Not a bad staff.   In his career, McCovey hit the most dingers (12) off Drysdale.  So, not only did Stretch mash, he mashed best against a Dodger HOFer– a praiseworthy Giant trait.

1969.  43 years ago.  What a year.   Nixon takes office.  Vietnam in full roar.  But, the first US troop withdrawals occur, and Nixon asks the “silent majority” to support his policies.  Spiro Agnew denounces Nixon’s critics as “an effete corps of impudent snobs” and “nattering nabobs of negativism”.  Earl Warren resigns from the Supreme Court.  Armstrong and Aldrin walk on the moon.  Sirhan Sirhan admits in court he killed RFK.  The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland.  Stonewall riots in NYC.   Judy Garland ODs and dies in London.   Teddy Kennedy and Chappaquiddick.   The Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III, the greatest upset in pro football history.  Monty Python debuts on the BBC.   Gaddafi orchestrates a coup and takes over Libya.   The My Lai massacre.  The first GAP store opens in SF.   The Manson family murders Sharon Tate.  The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opens.  The “Miracle Mets” win the World Series over the Orioles – 4 games to 1.   Whew!  The Santa Barbara oil spill.   The Beatles play their last public concert on the roof of Abbey Road studios in London.  Led Zeppelin releases Zeppelin I.   Altamont.  Jim Morrison arrested in Miami for allegedly exposing himself on stage.  Starting on August 15, one million people gather on Max Yasgur’s farm in upstate New York for a rock concert — Woodstock.   Janis, Jimi, CCR, Joan Baez, Canned Heat, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills Nash & Young and many more play in a mind-blowing, 3-day climax to the priapismic decade that was the ‘60s.  The Who play at dawn on Day 2, and steal the show with a set of raw Rock for the Ages.   http://tinyurl.com/c87qop.   http://tinyurl.com/d76v2vn.  And, in the inaugural year of the Division system that accommodated expansion to Kansas City, Seattle, Montreal, and San Diego, the Giants finish 90-72, second to the Braves in the NL West.

Here’s to Stretch, a first baseman for the Ages, and remembering when we had him in that tumultuous 1969…

Stretch — A great player, a great gentleman, a giant Giant…