McCovey was honored with his fellow Giants Hall of Famers Mays, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal and Orlando Cepeda at the team’s AT&T Park before Game 3 of the 2014 World Series, in which the Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in seven games. The Giants have presented a Willie Mac Award annually since 1980 to a San Francisco player exemplifying McCovey’s spirit and leadership.

Willie Lee McCovey was born in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 10, 1938, the seventh of 10 children of Frank and Ester McCovey. His father was a railroad laborer. An outstanding first baseman in sandlot baseball, he was signed to the New York Giants’ minor league system in 1955 and soon earned a reputation as a power hitter.

McCovey made his major league debut with a flourish on July 30, 1959, when he went 4 for 4, hitting two triples and two singles off Robin Roberts, the Philadelphia Phillies’ future Hall of Fame right-hander.

McCovey played in only 52 games that season, but he hit .354 with 13 home runs and was named rookie of the year.

Many San Francisco fans regarded Mays as the symbol of New York baseball in its golden age of the 1950s, a hero of the Polo Grounds. They focused their adulation on McCovey and the slugging Cepeda, who switched to the outfield to make room for McCovey at first base. They were local heroes in the pioneering years of major league baseball on the West Coast, with the Giants in San Francisco and the Brooklyn Dodgers having moved to Los Angeles.

McCovey tied Hank Aaron as the N.L.’s home run leader in 1963 with 44, which coincidentally was also both men’s jersey number. (McCovey had chosen the number to honor Aaron, a fellow Mobile native.) He had 36 homers and 105 R.B.I. in 1968, and 45 homers and 126 R.B.I. in 1969, leading the league in both categories each of those seasons. He hit .320 in 1969, when he won most valuable player honors.