McCovey Monday #1

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1100 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards every Monday.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

The first card I would like to show off is this 2001 Fleer Focus ROY Collection GU Bat and Auto card.  As you can see, this card has a great on-card signature and is serial numbered 49/59.  The 59 is in honor of his inaugural 1959 season where he captured the Rookie of the Year award with 13 HRs, 28 RBIs 9 2Bs, 5 3Bs and a .354 Batting Average.  He was the unanimous choice for ROY earning all 24 votes and actually got 1 MVP vote finishing tied for 22nd place.

The round piece of GU Bat acting as the "O" surrounded by the "R" and "Y" decorated with the look of a baseball and stitches is a great design touch.  You also have a full color picture of McCovey in the left finishing a powerful home run swing and a faded, up close photo of his face on the other side of the card.  The orange coloring also is perfect for this Giant legend.

I love the design of this card and have thought about pursing the rest of this set, there are some pretty big names in addition to McCovey like Willie Mays, Johnny Bench, Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter and Tom Seaver.