Lot # 1614: June 23, 1975 Willie McCovey Career Home Run #443 Baseball with Letter of Provenance

Celebrate a big blast from a 500 Home Run Club member's career, with the acquisition of this Willie McCovey home run #443 baseball. The date was June 23, 1975, when San Diego Padres tower of power McCovey took San Francisco Giants ace John "The Count" Montefusco deep in the first inning of a game at San Diego Stadium. A longtime Giant himself, McCovey was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career at the time, but there was still plenty of sock in his swing, as he totaled 23 homers in 122 games for San Diego during the 1975 season. Accompanying this money ball, is a letter of provenance from a Padres marketing executive, stating a member of the team's ground crew retrieved the ball and turned it over to the exec for his collection. Handwritten on the sweet spot of this fairly well-preserved ONL/Feeney baseball, is the commemoration "McCovey HR 6/23/75 Off S.F. 1st Ing". The sweet spot feels a bit flattened, suggesting this was the point of contact by McCovey, and there is an abrasion on the north panel, likely acquired from the ball's landing point beyond the left-centerfield fence.