It was an ordinary day, although after that day, ordinary never seemed the same again.  I was ‘daydreaming’ the day away, at the office; part of my brain rifling through (for the ten thousandth time) the many different retirement scenarios I was facing, while another section, possibly area 25, was connecting the dots – to the engineering specs on my desk. 

The company I worked for, the company I’d worked for – for nearly 30 years - was laying me off.  Not just me though, we were all getting our ‘pink slips.’  The company was closing its doors as of two months from now, November the 13^th to be exact.  A Thursday, although many of us thought the calendar was wrong, and it (November the 13^th) was really a Friday.

A small radio was playing on Ed Burnside’s desk, which was right next to mine; he always had it on, not ever listening to anything in particular, just background noise, or fuzz, as he liked to call it. 

Where Ed was at that moment I don’t know, and it was only much later that I even gave it a second thought, wondering if he’d stepped out on purpose, not that it mattered in any way.  Like I said, at that specific moment - my mind was divided; daydreaming as I was, while also working, thus I almost missed the words, but, not quite.  Willie McCovey, the hero of the 1962 World Series turns 70.  Happy Birthday Willie!

The man talking the news continued with the other birthdays, but I was stuck on the McCovey birthday.  “The hero of the 1962 World Series?”  That’s a hoot I thought.  As a die-hard Yankee fan – back in the day – I knew better. 

McCovey had made the last out of the final game, with the winning runs on base.  Alou was on third and Mays on second.  Two out, bottom of the ninth, Yankees ahead by one run, in the seventh game; a base hit wins the game.  So what does he do?  Mr. McCovey hits a scorching line drive - right at Bobby Richardson, the Yankee 2^nd Baseman, who catches the ball – ending the series.  Willie must have had a good series at the plate I thought to myself, as I paused for a second, dissecting the idea that McCovey was the hero of the 1962 World Series.  Still, ‘how could he be called the hero of the series,’ when his team, the San Francisco Giants – had lost to the Yanks?  Making a mental note to look it up on the computer later, I continued with my day, the McCovey thing slipping out of my consciousness.

It came back (to my consciousness) though, but   much later.  Nearly a month later as a matter of fact; I was lying in bed, Jeanie was asleep, and I was near dropping off - into the deep – when McCovey lurched into my mind. 

“Willie McCovey,” the hero of the 62 World Series, my ass! I said, sitting up in the bed, and tossing the covers aside, as I swung my feet over the edge of the mattress and let them fall to the floor.

Slogging into the kitchen, I got on Jeanie’s computer, typed in Willie McCovey and selected – “Willie McCovery – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In less than a minute my life was changed forever, as I read all about Willlie McCovey, the hero of the 1962 World Series.

"Perhaps McCovey’s best-known moment in baseball, came in the 1962 World Series; the bottom of the 9^th of Game 7, with 2 outs and the Giants trailing 1-0.  With Willie Mays on second base and Matty Alou on third, any base hit would win the championship for the Giants.  McCovey scorched a hard line drive that rocketed into right-centerfield, a solid hit, driving in the tying and winning runs for the Giants and making them World Champions, and him the hero of the series.

To say I was astounded would be an understatement.  I was in total shock.  I’d skipped school that day in 1962; Dad had allowed it since he knew how much I loved baseball, especially the Yankees.  Sitting in front of our old black and white, I’d watched the entire game, right down to McCovey’s line drive to Bobby Richardson, the Yanks 2nd Baseman, who caught it for the final out to give the Yanks the World Championship.

Now, here I was in 2008 reading all about the same game, but with a different result. 

What in the hell was going on?