Burgos: How Latinos influenced Willie McCovey’s path to the majors
From SABR member Adrian Burgos Jr. at La Vida Baseball on November 5, 2018:
Baseball lost a giant with the death of Willie McCovey on Oct. 31. McCovey, a power-hitting first baseman who played with the San Francisco Giants for 19 of his 22 major league seasons, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July of 1986.
The slugger’s path from Mobile, Ala., to Cooperstown included many connections to and relationships with Latinos. Together, they changed baseball as part of the game’s pioneering generation.
Coming up through the Giants’ farm system and joining the big league club in 1959, McCovey formed lifelong friendships with some of the era’s biggest Latino stars: Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal and Orlando Cepeda.
Alou and McCovey got to know each other particularly well. The two lived as roommates during their minor-league days in Phoenix and, later, while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
Read the full article here: https://www.lavidabaseball.com/willie-mccovey-alou-marichal-cepeda/
Originally published: November 6, 2018. Last Updated: November 6, 2018.