On July 30, 1959, rookie first baseman Willie McCovey made his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants. The 21-year-old lefty slugger played the remainder of the season — just 52 games — and batted .354 with 13 homers and 38 RBI. For this impressive production in roughly the final third of the season, he was awarded the National League Rookie of the Year award. A year later, he was back in the minor leagues.
McCovey got off to a slow start in 1960, and after the second All-Star Game (baseball played a pair of midsummer classics 1958-62), the Giants sent him to Tacoma of the PCL. Seventeen games later he was back in San Francisco and the majors for keeps, but likely learned a little humility along the way. One of the classic sluggers (521 career HRs) of all-time, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Lastings Milledge is no Willie McCovey. His first year as a regular wasn’t great, nor was it awful. He showed some power at the plate and some quickness on the bases, but was very ordinary defensively. Installed as the leadoff hitter this spring — presumably for his speed — he proceeded to display little, if anything, at the plate, beyond a lack of discipline, and his glove work left a lot to be desired.
Milledge might be better compared to former Senators’ first baseman Mike Epstein. Mike, acquired from Baltimore in May of ’67, saw himself as a much better player than his stats would seem to indicate. Batting just .099 a year later, he was sent to Buffalo for a couple of weeks, came back and hit .275 for the rest of the season.
Getting demoted to the minor leagues may be embarrassing, but the bottom line is that Milledge was providing nothing of value to a team that could no longer afford to keep him on the field. At 24, he needs to play every day, and if not in Washington, Syracuse will have to do.
Milledge may be gone for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. It’s up to him, as well as up to the job that Elijah Dukes does in centerfield in his absence. The demotion of Milledge is not the solution to the outfield logjam we expected, but it may turn out to be a blessing for both he and the Nationals.
Phil Wood is a contributor to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at [email protected].
