Free Republic

Nancy Pelosi's attempt to 'say hey' to baseball legend Willie Mays on his birthday proved difficult after she posted a picture of the wrong athlete on Twitter. Thursday marked the 90th birthday for Mays, considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. 'Happy 90th Birthday to an all-American icon, Willie Mays,' the House Speaker tweeted on Thursday. 'A trailblazing, record-breaking baseball player, civil rights leader, and champion for youth sports and well-being, Willie Mays is a civic legend and national treasure. #SayHey90'

Willie McCovey, one of the great left-handed power hitters of all time, a first-ballot inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986 and a beloved member of the San Francisco Giants family, passed away peacefully Wednesday after a battle with health issues. He was 80 years old. Nicknamed "Stretch" for the long arms and legs attached to his 6-foot-4 frame, McCovey and fellow Hall of Famer and Alabama native Willie Mays comprised the core of San Francisco Giants teams that gave opposing pitchers The Willies. McCovey's pull power was so prodigious that the China Basin that sits beyond...

McCovey pleaded guilty to income tax-fraud conspiracy in 1995, alongside fellow baseball star Duke Snider, for failing to report thousands of dollars each in fees received from memorabilia and autograph shows. The plea carried a sentence of up to seven months in jail. Both McCovey and Snider, who died in 2011, were given two years’ probation and a $5,000 fine in 1996.

“If you pitch to him, he’ll ruin a baseball,’’ rival manager Sparky Anderson once said. “There’s no comparison between McCovey and anybody else in the league.” He was the National League rookie of the year in 1959, the league’s MVP in 1969 and the comeback player of the year in 1977 when he kicked off a late-career renaissance by returning to the Giants after a three-year absence. In all, McCovey was a six-time All-Star whose career home run total ties him with Ted Williams for 18th on the all-time list. Before Barry Bonds passed him, McCovey had more home runs...