SAN FRANCISCO -- Willie McCovey, one of the most prolific hitters in MLB history, died on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Giants announced that McCovey, a Hall of Famer, passed away peacefully after losing his battle with ongoing health issues. McCovey was 80 years old. 

“San Francisco and the entire baseball community lost a true gentleman and legend, and our collective hearts are broken,” team president and CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. “Willie was a beloved figure throughout his playing days and in retirement. He will be deeply missed by the many people he touched. For more than six decades, he gave his heart and soul to the Giants – as one of the greatest players of all time, as a quiet leader in the clubhouse, as a mentor to the Giants who followed in his footsteps, as an inspiration to our Junior Giants, and as a fan cheering on the team from his booth.”

McCovey was survived by his wife, Estella, his daughter, Allison, and her children, Raven, Philip and Marisa, as well as his brothers, Clauzell and Cleon, and his sister Frances. The Giants plan to hold a public celebration of McCovey’s life at a later date. 

McCovey had health issues in recent years and was confined to a wheelchair, but he was still a regular at AT&T Park, where the cove beyond right field has taken his name. In his playing days, McCovey was one of the most feared hitters in the game, and he put together a career that is nearly unmatched by left-handed hitters in MLB history. 

McCovey played 19 of his 22 seasons with the Giants, debuting at the age of 21 and going 4-for-4 off Robin Roberts, a future Hall-of-Famer. That was simply a taste of what was to come. McCovey, was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 1959 and the MVP in 1969. He hit 521 home runs and drove in 1,555 runs. He slugged .515 across more than 8,000 career at-bats; for comparison’s sake, only 10 National League players bested that number in 2018. 

McCovey dealt with multiple health complications in recent years, but his daughter, Allison, said he passed away peacefully. 

“I am grateful that my father passed peacefully surrounded by his family and friends while listening to his favorite sports channel,” Allison said in a statement put out by the team. 

Estella McCovey said Willie will be “terribly missed.”

“He was my best friend and husband,” Estella said in a statement. “Living life without him will never be the same.”

McCovey was a six-time All-Star and led the National League in homers three times. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1986, his first year of eligibility, but his legacy off the field is just as strong. Every year, the Giants hand out the Willie Mac Award, given to the player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership consistently shown by McCovey. In short, it is the award given to the most inspirational Giant, and it is voted on by teammates, coaches, clubhouse staff and McCovey. 

Despite his health issues, McCovey always made it out to the ballpark for the ceremony, and he was on hand last month to give the award to Will Smith.

Willie McCovey, the Hall of Fame first baseman and the first universally popular San Francisco Giant, died at age 80 today at Stanford Hospital after a long history of health issues.

McCovey, who had been hospitalized a week ago after developing an infection, was the first best original San Francisco Giant, and as such won the hearts and minds of the city and its surroundings even before Willie Mays, whose greatness had already been exhibited in New York. His long, looping lefthanded swing helped tame the vicious Candlestick Park winds even in the days when there was a clear path for the wind from the bay to home plate, though his most famous hit might have been the scorching line drive out to New York Yankee Bobby Richardson to end Game 7 of the 1962 World Series, which the Yankees won.

More enduring, though, was his general demeanor as a player and after, which  allowed the Giants to name the team’s most prestigious player award after him, and to declare the body of water behind right field at AT&T Park McCovey Cove -- as fitting a way to remember him as any, given that geography endures long after mere men.

McCovey played 22 years, including 2 ½ in San Diego (where the brown-and-gold uniform did not suit him) and 11 games in Oakland (where the green and gold flattered him no more), and such was his popularity that the Giants retained his services for four final seasons before he retired in 1980 at age 42, with 521 career homers, one Most Valuable Player trophy (in 1969) and a Hall of Fame plaque (1986, as the top vote-getter in his first year of eligibility).

McCovey filled the historical void for fans that Mays left when he was traded in 1973, and when Mays returned at the behest of new general manager Al Rosen and owner Bob Lurie in 1986, and became a fulltime ambassador in 1993.

But if Mays was the head for fans, McCovey was the heart. He attended hundreds of games after his retirement, which was made often challenging because of repeated knee operations and other health issues that confined him to a motorized wheelchair for the last two decades of his life. He was immediately recognizable and much beloved both as the man who batted behind Mays in the Giants’ first renaissance in the 1960s and carried on not only as one of the game’s most dynamic first basemen but as one of the franchise’s most beloved players.

He was last seen by the public at the annual bestowal of the Willie Mac Award at the end of September when he presented the award to Giants reliever Will Smith. The award, which players vote upon, was considered the most prestigious non-national award a Giant could receive. He was, in short, the quintessential San Francisco Giant in a prideful provincial city that needed time to warm up to Mays only because he began as New York’s.

There were no memorial arrangements announced at the time of publication. 

He is survived by his wife Estela, and a daughter, Allison, from his first marriage, and her children, Raven, Philip and Melissa.

SAN FRANCISCO — As big of a draw as he is in Scottsdale, there’s little that can be taken from a Madison Bumgarner spring training start. He's years past the point where any results in the Cactus League matter. He’s simply there to get his work in, and occasionally to make a small tweak or two. 

And yet, the Giants found themselves getting more and more excited about Bumgarner as spring training went on this year. He was sharp throughout, and with 30 strikeouts in 21 innings, he looked ready to dominate. Bruce Bochy and members of his staff quietly wondered if Bumgarner was about to have a career year.

That all changed with one liner back to the mound. 

Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield’s shot up the middle fractured Bumgarner’s fifth metacarpal and put a serious dent in the Giants’ chances of getting off to a quick start. 

Bumgarner had a solid year, but not the spectacular one that some were picturing back in Scottsdale. Here’s a look at how it all went down … 

What Went Right

Bumgarner had a 3.26 ERA and 1.24 WHIP and was particularly dominant at home, posting a 1.63 ERA in 10 starts at AT&T Park. At home, he held opposing hitters to a minuscule .204/.267/.306 slash line and allowed just three home runs.

He didn’t get as deep into games as he used to, but he still completed eight innings three times and made it through seven on six occasions, which is increasingly rare in today’s game. In 16 of his 21 starts, he pitched at least six innings, and he also allowed three-or-fewer runs 16 times. 

This was a year when Bumgarner hit a few milestones. He became the fourth-fastest left-hander to reach 1,500 career strikeouts, and he needs just 16 to move past Gaylord Perry and into fourth place in San Francisco Giants history. He finished the year at 110 career wins, ranking him third in franchise history. 

Bumgarner provided one of the coolest moments of the season, coming off the bench in the 12th inning on Sept. 25 and lining a walk-off single. He became the first pitcher in four years to get a game-ending RBI and the first Giants pitcher in 28 years to do it. He then rejected Alen Hanson. 

What Went Wrong

There’s nothing Bumgarner could do about the injury. It was bad luck that cost him 60 games a year after he missed 75. The Giants have a 59-76 record with Bumgarner on the DL the past two years. 

The bigger concern might be some of the red flags within his overall numbers. Bumgarner had a 4.97 ERA on the road. His strikeout rate (7.6) was the lowest of his career and the walk rate (3.0) was the highest. For the first time since 2013, he didn’t pitch a complete game. For the first time since 2010, he didn’t have a double-digit strikeout game.

Bumgarner may be the most durable pitcher of his generation, but in 2018 he fell victim to the same third-time-through penalty as most other starters. Opponents had a .624 OPS off him the first two times through the order but it was .868 the third time, and Bochy adjusted and started pulling him earlier. 

And since we mentioned the pinch-hit walk-off, we should mention that he failed to homer for the first time in five years and had a .378 OPS. Certainly, the fractured finger set him back, but he still is used to putting up far more resistance at the plate. 

Contract Status

This week, the Giants picked up Bumgarner’s option for 2019. He will make $12 million in the final year of his deal, and he has a limited no-trade clause that allows him to block eight teams. 

The Future

Bumgarner’s status is the biggest issue a new front office must address, and Larry Baer and Brian Sabean have been asking candidates about Bumgarner during interviews. After 2014, it seemed a lock that Bumgarner would get the usual Giants treatment, signing a massive extension before he hit free agency and maybe one day watching a statue go up outside AT&T Park somewhere.

But in recent months, Giants officials have acknowledged that they are in a deep hole and that trading Bumgarner for prospects is the easiest way to kickstart a rebuild. It’s very possible that he’ll start 2019 in New York, or Atlanta, or somewhere else.

If this were anyone else, it would be a no-brainer. The left-hander is a year from free agency and would be the biggest name on the trade market. But he’s also Madison Bumgarner, the man who dragged this franchise to a third title, and it remains difficult to picture this ownership group signing off on a winter trade.