This Day in Baseball...Always keeping former or current Giants in mind

This day in baseball is seen daily on the website, Baseball-Reference.com.
I will throw a few out there about players who either played or managed or coached for the San Francisco Giants.

These truly are fun facts.

On November 4th...

1976: The first mass-market free agent re-entry draft was helt at New York's Plaza Hotel. Among those available are: Reggie Jackson, Willie McCovey, Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, Don Gullett, Nate Colbert, Rollie Fingers, Don Baylor and Bobby Grich. McCovey and Colbert are the only two (2) players not selected, but McCovey will catch on with the San Francisco Giants in spring training and have a banner year as first-baseman for the Gigantes at Candlestick Park.

McCovey's 1977 offensive numbers: AB-478 R-54 H-134 2B-21 HR-28 RBI-86 AVG.-.280

1987: Benito Santiago, San Diego Padre cather, who ended the season with a 34-game hitting streak, is the unanimous selection as National League Rookie of the Year.

November 7th...

1957: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Jack Sanford, who posted a 19-8 record with 180-Ks and an ERA of 3.08 is named National League Rookie of the Year. Sanford beats out his teammate, first-sacker, Eddie Bouchee.
(Sanford played for the Giants from 1959 to 1965. On December 3, 1958 he was traded by the Phillies to the Giants for Valmy Thomas and Ruben Gomez. On August 18, 1965 the California Angels purchased the contract of Jack Sanford from the San Francisco Giants.

Sanford was a significant contributor during the 1962 season when the Giants fell to the Yankees 4-games to-3 in the 1962 World Series. His World Series numbers were:
G-3 Games Started-3 ERA-1.93 W-1 L-2 CG-1 IP-23.1 H-16 ER-5 BB-8 Ks-19.)

1963: Elston Howard, New York Yankee catcher, becomes the first black player to win the American League MVP. Howard beat out Al Kaline. Howard had 248 votes and Kaline 148 votes.

1967: Orlando Cepeda, first-baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals, becomes only the second National League player to unanimously win the MVP. Cepeda, who was traded by the Giants on May 8, 1966, batted .325 with 25-HR and 111-RBI, as he led the Cardinals to a World Series championship. Not exactly stellar in the post-season but his regular season number got 'em there!
New York Giants pitcher, Carl Hubbell, swept the NL MVP voting in 1936.

Note: It may have been Cepeda's post-season numbers that had the Giants' brass choose him to be traded vs. Willie McCovey.
Cepeda in 1962 with SF vs NYYanks: AB-19 R-1 H-3 RBI-2 AVG.-.158
Cepeda in 1967 with STL vs Boston: AB-29 R-1 H-3 RBI-1 AVG.-.103
Cepeda in 1968 with STL vs Detroit: AB-28 R-2 H-7 HR-2 RBI-6 AVG.-.250
Cepeda in 1969 in NLCS with ATL vs NY Mets: AB-11 R-2 H-5 HR-1 RBI-3 AVG.-.455

The only year his team won was in 1967.

November 8th...

1966: Frank Robinson is the American League MVP. He is the first player to win the MVP in both leagues. (Robinson was a manager for the San Francisco Giants from 1981 thru 1984 inclusive. He was also the first black manager ever in major league baseball when he was player manager for the Cleveland Indians in 1975.)

(hats off to Baseball-Reference. Thank you Baseball-Reference for these neat little ditties of baseball facts.)

Kevin Marquez