The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #79 Willie McCovey

Coming in at #79 on our list is Giants slugger Willie McCovey. To get an idea of how feared McCovey’s bat was, consider that he was intentionally walked 260 times in his career which is the 5th highest total in history behind only Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Stan Musial, and Hank Aaron. That’s some stellar company. Before Bonds rewrote the history books on intentional walks from 2002-2004, McCovey held the single-season intentional walks record (45). In fact, McCovey still has the highest non-Bonds single-season mark and he’s the only non-Bonds player to reach 40+ intentional walks in a season twice. McCovey led the National League in slugging % and OPS+ for three consecutive seasons. He led the league in home runs three times and finished in the top-5 seven times. He took home the National League MVP in 1969 and was 8th on the all time home run list when he retired in 1980. 

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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