It Behooves Me To Honor The GodFather Of My First Pet

________________________________________________________________________________________________

All I remember

of my first pet

was his name

Stretch was an alley cat

named in honor of

Willie "Stretch" McCovey,

who died two days ago

But
I distinctly remember

McCovey's major league debut

in what would be 

a Hall of Fame career

 

The date was  July 30, 1959

I was a ten year-old

New York kid

whose first super-hero,

Willie Mays, and his team

—the New York Giants—

had moved to San Francisco

the year before

I listened to that 
mid-summer baseball game

on a portable radio
with my bedroom door closed

The Giants were playing

in San Francisco

but the game was broadcast

from a New York studio

by  Les Keiter

 

A guy named Willie
 was batting third
for the Giants.

His last name
started with M
but it was not

Willie Mays!

It was his major league debut

and he hit two triples:

maybe one out of a gazillion

rookies do that 

in their first game

   

On July 30, 1959,
Willie McCovey

had 4 hits in 4 at-bats:

maybe one out of a half-gazillion

rookies do that 

in their first game
 

Most appropriately,

for his entire 
lengthy and legendary career

as a major league ballplayer,

"Stretch" McCovey

wore #44

Willie "Stretch" McCovey
born: January 10, 1938
died: October 31, 2018
R.I.P.

________________________________________________________________________________________________