The quintessential power hitter, McCovey had terrorized pitchers since winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1959. But he truly announced his presence in 1963, when he hit 44 homers to share the league lead with Hank Aaron. Many witnesses insist that McCovey's total should have been 45. The game nearly ended with one out in the ninth, as McCovey drove a hanging slider well beyond the right field foul pole. The crowd of 15,921 erupted -- except for a Braves stockholder hunched in the grandstand named Bud Selig -- until first base umpire Chris Pelekoudas signaled that McCovey's clout was nothing but a long foul ball.
#TBT: Baseball's greatest pitching duel
