On March 13, 1969 Willie McCovey ended his holdout Thursday when he signed a two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, believed to call for $85,000 this season. The slugging first baseman indicated that the second year of the pact was flexible and terms could be revised upward if he has another outstanding season.
Last year, McCovey led the National League with 36 home runs, 105 runs batted in a .545 slugging average while batting .293. Manager Clyde King immediately planned to insert McCovey into the Giants’ lineup and declared: “You know what it looks like? It looks like I’m sitting before a great big piece of strawberry shortcake and can’t wait to tear into it.”
The pact was the second two-year contract for the 31-year-old McCovey. He had asked the Giants for a three-year contract, but the club held firm against that unusual request. In Giants’ history, McCovey and Willie Mays are the only players ever to receive even two-year pacts. McCovey’s signing left the Giants with only one holdout, star pitcher Juan Marichal, who is seeking a substantial raise from the $100,000 he got last year when he won 26 games and lost nine.
Marichal, like McCovey before he signed, has been working out with the club and has indicated that he will probably come to terms soon. He is asking for a one-year contract. “Everybody’s happy, and we’re ready to play baseball,” said Giants’ Vice President Chub Feeney, commenting on reports that McCovey was asking for a $20,000-a-year raise had said, “I only wish he was.” McCovey, for his part, had said his asking price would come down if the Giants would agree to a three-year contract “I’m not a bluffer,” said Mc Covey after signing. “They gave me what I wanted, although I didn’t get what I originally asked for.”
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