Willie McCovey Cards: A Career in Cardboard
At the plate, Willie McCovey was a monster. Whenever he stepped up, anything could happen. Over the course of a career that lasted more than two decades, Stretch became one of the greatest hitters baseball has ever seen. His career numbers include 521 home runs, 1,555 RBI, .889 OPS and a 64.5 WAR. Needless to say, Willie McCovey cards remain favorites for many from the 1960s and ’70s.
But McCovey was more than a massive presence on the field. He was regarded as a leader off of it. In the decades since his retirement, he acted as a mentor for many Giants coming up and remained active with the team where he could.
For collectors, there are thousands of different Willie McCovey cards out there. That said, the vast majority of those have come after his retirement and include plenty of parallels. The most iconic Willie McCovey cards are those that came out while he was playing. His career lines up perfectly to showcase the sets and designs of the ’60s and ’70s. It starts with his Rookie Card in 1960 Topps Baseball and ends with his final card from 1981 Fleer.
Willie McCovey Vintage Cards Gallery
The following gallery covers the main Willie McCovey cards released during his career from Topps (and a hint of Fleer at the end). It’s limited to only his main player card from each year and not subsets, inserts or other issues.
1960 Topps Willie McCovey RC #316
1961 Topps Willie McCovey #517
1962 Topps Willie McCovey SP #544
1963 Topps Willie McCovey #490
1964 Topps Willie McCovey #350
1965 Topps Willie McCovey #176
1966 Topps Willie McCovey SP #550
1967 Topps Willie McCovey #480
1968 Topps Willie McCovey #290
1969 Topps Willie McCovey #440
1970 Topps Willie McCovey #250
1971 Topps Willie McCovey #50
1972 Topps Willie McCovey #280
1973 Topps Willie McCovey #410
1974 Topps Willie McCovey #250
1975 Topps Willie McCovey #450
1976 Topps Willie McCovey #520
1977 Topps Willie McCovey #547
1978 Topps Willie McCovey #34
1979 Topps Willie McCovey #215
1980 Topps Willie McCovey #335
1981 Fleer Willie McCovey #434
An interesting bit of baseball history – there is a variation of Willie McCovey’s 1974 Topps card. There was talk that the San Diego Padres were going to move to Washington prior to the season, so Topps released a number of cards with WASHINGTON // NAT’L LEAGUE as the team name… Including one for Willie McCovey. When it became clear that San Diego was staying put, Topps corrected the cards.