Major League Baseball

Pence's return to the Giants reminiscent of McCovey

Published May. 18, 2015 8:11 p.m. ET

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Hunter Pence homered in his second game back in the Giants’ lineup on Sunday following a 36-game absence due to a broken arm. Giants beat writer Chris Haft points out that a similar thing happened in 1972 with Willie McCovey. McCovey broke his arm in April 1972 and missed 44 games. He actually homered in his first game back with the Giants.

What made McCovey’s homer perhaps more impressive was the fact that in his day, the Giants first baseman didn’t have a chance to go on a minor league rehab assignment before facing big league pitching.

In his day, McCovey also didn’t have the kind of arm guard protection available to big leaguers today. Haft quotes McCovey on a conversation he had with Pence regarding the possibility of wearing something to protect his arm:

"He said, 'No, no, no,' " said McCovey, the Hall of Fame first baseman who remains a Giants senior advisor. "I said, 'You're crazy.' If they would have been available for me, I think I would have worn one.”

You might say that Pence -- who wears only one batting glove and didn’t take a day off for 383 consecutive games until his injury -- is more old-school even than McCovey.

(h/t MLB.com)

Photo credit: Ed Szczepanski/USA TODAY Sports

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