Baseball Legends: Willie McCovey (Giants 1959-1973, 1977-1980, Padres 1974-1976, A’s 1976)

He may not be the most famous Giant, but Willie McCovey deserves a great deal of consideration when talking about the greatest players in baseball history. Overshadowed throughout most of his career by the other Willie on his team, McCovey was a true team player and rose above any petty bickering or bitter jealousy that may have eaten away at a lesser man.

Baseball Legends: Billy Williams (Cubs 1959-1974, A’s 1975-1976)

“In baseball a player knows just two things: today and yesterday. There’s never a tomorrow until it gets here.” — Billy Williams

It’s amazing when you can remember how a player swings the bat after decades of not seeing him do it. Pictures of Ruth and Aaron are seen often in the media, but for someone to be called Sweet Swingin’ Billy it must be something special. From a very relaxed stance, and careful stride, this slim, wiry athlete would whip the bat through the zone in a way that could take the ball out of the park to any field.

Baseball Legends: Stanley Coveleski (A’s 1912, Indians 1916-1924, Senators 1925-1927, Yankees 1928)

I chose Stanley Coveleski for a couple of reasons. The first is the fact that he is Polish. As a Polish-American I can relate to him. I even know what it is like to have your name misspelled. On the card to the left you can see the misspelling. One reason for the misspelling is the fact that he changed his name. He was born Stanislaus Kowalewski.

The second reason that I chose to write about him is that our local minor league team the South Bend Silverhawks named their stadium after him. He moved to the area after his playing days were over, and made such an impact that they name Coveleski Stadium in his honor.

Baseball Legends: Ty Cobb (Tigers 1905-1926, A’s 1927-1928)

“I often tried plays that looked recklessly daring, maybe even silly. But I never tried anything foolish when a game was at stake, only when we were far ahead or far behind. I did it to study how the other team reacted, filing away in my mind any observations for future use.”

These are the immortal words of Ty Cobb. He is regarded as the best player of the dead-ball era. His accomplishments on the field are often disputed, mostly because records were poorly kept at the turn of the 20^th century. As a result, his career hits total anywhere between 4,189 to 4,192. He also has 11 or 12 batting titles, depending on the source. Even with these discrepancies, the numbers are still impressive.

Baseball Legends: Reggie Jackson (A’s 1967-1975, 1987, Orioles 1976, Yankees 1977-1981, Angels 1982-1986)

Reggie Jackson hit 563 regular season home runs in his career, but it is post-season round trippers for which “Mr. October” is most remembered. Five of those came in the 1977 World Series when the Yankees faced the Dodgers, including three in Game 6, giving New York the Championship. Jackson had already established himself as a star in Oakland, winning the MVP award in 1973 while leading the AL in homers, RBI, slugging, and OPS.

In his career, Jackson finished in the top 10 MVP voting six times (excluding his 1973 win), and was voted to start 10 All-Star games. He was also selected for the All-Star roster an additional four times. At the time of this writing, Jackson ranks 11th on the career home run list (563) and 20th on the career RBI list (1702).