One of the 1964 Phillies players, a key one at that. In fact, one of the most famous photos to come out of that season was one that had Richie Allen, Johnny Callison, Frank Thomas and Covington together in a photo after they had all homered in one game against Houston on Sept 1 to beat Houston 4-3. Callison, Covington and Thomas had all homered in the bottom of the 7th to put the Phils up 3-0 and Allen hit an inside the park home run in the eighth to put them up 4-0.
The photo is funny because Callison, Thomas and even Allen look absolutely thin next to Covington, who was bulging with muscles.
Another interesting tidbit about Covington [and I haven't yet read the article] was that when the '64 Phils were all invited to come back to play in a reunion game to celebrate the 25th anniversary in 1989, the only guy alive or healthy [Chris Short was in a coma] who failed to even respond to the invitation was Covington. Larry Shenk commented that no one knew where he was but the rumors were that he was working in Canada for a newpaper department.
Covington was one of the few players from that 1964 team who ever did play in a World Series, he did it with the Milwaukee Braves in '57-58.
PS. Just read the article confirming he did work for a newspaper department in Edmonton, Canada. Good article but incorrect about Covington's association with the Phils. 1964 was not his last year with the club, 1965 was. And on a personal note, I will add this. Wes Covington did a very good job for the 1964 Phils, hitting 13 home runs and knocking in 58 runs in platoon with Alex Johnson.
However, what I recall most are two other things. One, he doubled high off the Connie Mack Stadium wall twice [including the 9th inning] in the first game of the eventual 10 game losing streak. Both came close to becoming home runs, which was significant since they lost the game 1-0. The other was this. Covington came up no less than 3 times during that losing streak with a chance to win games for the Phils and failed all three times. Not that he was the problem, heaven knows the team had an almost roster wide problem during the slump except for Allen, Callison and Alex Johnson. But it shows how individual performances can affect a team wide game in so many ways.
One more hit...1964 Phils win the pennant.
