My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. I
have amassed a collection of over 1200 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.
I just realized it has been about 6 weeks since I posted a McCovey Monday post, oops. I haven't been picking up a ton of new Willie Mac cards but I have 4 binders worth to choose from so my only realistic excuse is laziness. My April posting was sporadic (only 16 posts in 30 days) due to a couple factors. I am in a little bit of a work funk due to some changes going on in my department that have resulted in some personal uncertainty. My kids activities have gone crazy between Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Karate and Baseball partnered with my wife's work schedule getting busy with some evening meetings. Perhaps the biggest driver has been watching season 3 of House of Cards on Netflix in the evenings and starting Game of Thrones after getting a free 3 month HBO subscription.
Well, let's get onto the cards. I waited until getting the final card which came last week to show these McCovey cards from 2015 Donruss. I am pretty excited to have the entire "rainbow" - I am calling it a rainbow despite little color variation as I got all 6 cards in the run.
First up the base card. Donruss included quite a few retired players at the end of the base set. Willie is card #183. I really like this picture as it showcases his #44 jersey, I wore that number a couple years in Pony Baseball as a tribute to my favorite player. To me the background makes the card with the folding chairs and the seats empty with the exception of the dude in the yellow shirt on the left side of the card. You can even see a "No Pepper" sign under Willie's armpit. Solid card, even without logos.
This is the Hot Off the Press parallel. The card is the same as the base with the exception of the blue logo in the upper left corner. These come about 1/box and I was lucky enough to buy this on eBay for a pretty low price the week the set came out.
There are two Press Proof parallels in 2015 Donruss. This is the Silver version and mine is numbered 166/199. This was the last card in the rainbow that I needed.
I also have the Gold Press Proof and this is numbered 19/99. I found the gold more plentiful on eBay which is a little odd but now that I have both I really don't care.
The Career and Season Stat Line parallels are some of my favorites. I really like this one as it features what to me is a magical number - 521. Willie shares this career total with two other HOFers - Ted Williams and Frank Thomas. My only complaint is that I wish it was numbered to 521, for some reason Donruss stopped all the cards at 400, this one is 054/400. I actually have an extra of this card if anyone is interested.
The final card in the rainbow is this Season Stat Line card. Until prepping this post, I never noticed an obvious error in the card. Willie McCovey did not hit his 45 Home Runs in 2014, with his bad knees I don't think he could hit even one these days. He hit his career high of 45 home runs during his MVP season of 1969. A quick search on eBay shows that all the Season Stat Line cards show 2014 - disappointing.
Here are all the cards together for a solid looking "rainbow" of Stretch cards.
Very nice!
ReplyDeleteMcCovey hitting 45 HRs last year would have been the most impressive season ever.
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 years ago I got Bob Gibson's and Ferguson Jenkins' autographs a few months apart at a local show. There's usually time to ask at least one question while they're signing. I asked each one the same question- who was the toughest hitter they faced in their career. Both men had the same answer- Willie McCovey.
ReplyDelete