Big Mac’s first attack

Willie McCovey spends his Hall of Fame career terrifying pitchers with a long, strong swing that launches home runs to places rarely visited by baseballs.

During all or parts of 22 seasons in the majors, McCovey drills 521 home runs off 245 different pitchers.

Somehow, none of those homers come off Robin Roberts, who allows a then-record 505 of them during his own Hall of Fame career.

Still, the two – McCovey and Roberts – have an interesting game of pitch-and-smash 65 years ago today in McCovey’s major league debut with the San Francisco Giants in a 7-2 victory at Seals Stadium.

Fresh up from Class AAA Phoenix with his warranty tags still in place, the 6-foot-4, 198-pound McCovey is batting third in the order for the Giants against the 32-year-old Roberts, sandwiched between a pair of future Hall of Famers in Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.

All the 21-year-old McCovey does is go 4-for-4 off Roberts with a single in the first inning, a triple in the fourth, an RBI single in the fifth and another run-scoring triple in the seventh.

Well, at least Roberts keeps him the ballpark while losing the game 7-2 before a Thursday afternoon crowd of 10,114.

“Sure, I was nervous out there at first,” McCovey says after the game, “but I got over it after the second time at bat. … After my second triple, I pulled into third and (Phillies third baseman Gene Freese) told me to lighten up on them and not hit the ball so hard.”

McCovey goes on to bat .354 in 52 games that season for the Giants with 13 homers and 38 runs batted in.

A seemingly small sample size with only 52 games, but more than enough to become the unanimous pick as the National League’s Rookie of the Year.