McCovey Cove

McCovey Cove (2002)

McCovey Cove is the unofficial name of a section of San Francisco Bay beyond the right field wall of AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, named after famed Giants first baseman Willie McCovey. The proper name for the cove is China Basin, which is the mouth of Mission Creek as it meets the bay. The cove is bounded along the north by AT&T Park, with a ferry landing and a breakwater at the northeast end. The southern shore is lined by China Basin Park and McCovey Point. To the east, it opens up to San Francisco Bay, while the west end of the cove is bounded by the Lefty O'Doul Bridge, named after San Francisco ballplayer and manager Lefty O'Doul.

The name was coined thanks to two sportswriters. Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News wrote an article suggesting naming the body of water after McCovey, though his original suggestions were 'McCovey Channel,' 'McCovey Stream' or 'McCovey Run.' Purdy then noted the more 'lyrical' name of 'McCovey Cove' was suggested by his colleague Leonard Koppett, a writer for the Oakland Tribune. The name did not take long to become very popular, although the moniker has never become official.

On game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats and even in kayaks, often with fishing nets in the hope of collecting a home run ball. This echoes what used to happen during McCovey's playing days. Before Candlestick Park's upper deck was extended, the area behind right field was occupied by three small bleacher sections and a lot of open space. Kids in those bleachers would gather behind the right field fence when "Stretch" would come to the plate. There may also be a link to the fact that Willie McCovey was one of only a few that hit home runs over the scoreboard and into a public swimming pool at Montreal's Jarry Park (Parc Jarry), the Expos' home from 1969 to 1976. The fact that balls can be hit into a water basin over the right field wall in San Francisco is somewhat of a tribute/salute to Willie McCovey's legend when he visited Montreal.

Just beyond the wall is a public waterfront promenade, where fans can watch the game through the wall's archways, free of charge, albeit with a somewhat obstructed view. Across the cove from the ballpark is McCovey Point and China Basin Park, featuring a statue of McCovey at the mouth of the Cove. At his feet are small plaques commemorating the winners of the Willie Mac Award, named in McCovey's honor. Along the southern shore of the cove, between McCovey Point and the O'Doul Bridge, is a walkway featuring plaques showing the Opening Day Roster of every Giants team from 1958 through 1999. Just south of the statue of Willie McCovey is Barry Bonds Junior Giants Field, a t-ball sized baseball diamond.

Giants fans on kayaks in McCovey Cove during the 2012 World Series

Splash hits

Panoramic view of McCovey Cove, August 2010.

"Splash hits" are recorded only when Giants players hit home runs that land in McCovey Cove on the fly. These hits are tallied on an electronic counter on the right field wall. As of September 25, 2014, 68 "splash hits" had been hit into the Bay by Giants players since the park opened; 35 of those were by Barry Bonds. The only Giants other than Bonds to have reached the Cove more than once are Pablo Sandoval, with seven "splash hits", Brandon Belt, with four, and six players with two each: Felipe Crespo, Michael Tucker, Ryan Klesko, Aubrey Huff, Andrés Torres and Brandon Crawford. Nine other Giants' players have accomplished the feat just once. Carlos Beltrán's "Splash Hit" on September 14, 2011, marked his 300th career home run. Klesko is currently the only player to have splash hits as both a Giant and as an opposing player through the 2012 season. Tyler Colvin's "splash hit" on May 12, 2014, was also his first hit for the Giants and came off his first at bat at AT&T Park since joining the team.

When AT&T Park hosted the 2007 Home Run Derby, McCovey Cove was heavily featured in promotional materials, and the namesake slugger presented each participant with special bats before the competition. However, the difficulty of hitting McCovey Cove with a home run was shown, as none of the eight sluggers competing were able to hit water, and all four left-handed batters (who are more likely to hit home runs to right field, and thus, to the Cove) were eliminated in the first round of the contest. The only player to hit water was Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, who hit one into-the-water foul. Fielder would eventually hit McCovey Cove with a fair ball on July 20, 2008, as the 17th visiting player to hit a home run into the Cove.

No right-handed hitter has ever hit an opposite field home run into McCovey Cove, though Giants catcher Buster Posey has come close several times.

No.	Player	Date	Opponent	Pitcher
1	Barry Bonds (1)	May 1, 2000	New York Mets	Rich Rodriguez
2	Barry Bonds (2)	May 10, 2000	St. Louis Cardinals	Andy Benes
3	Barry Bonds (3)	May 10, 2000	St. Louis Cardinals	Heathcliff Slocumb
4	Barry Bonds (4)	May 24, 2000	Montreal Expos	Mike Thurman
5	Barry Bonds (5)	July 19, 2000	San Diego Padres	Brian Meadows
6	Barry Bonds (6)	September 20, 2000	Cincinnati Reds	Steve Parris
7	Barry Bonds (7)	April 17, 2001	Los Angeles Dodgers	Terry Adams
8	Barry Bonds (8)	April 18, 2001	Los Angeles Dodgers	Chan Ho Park
9	Barry Bonds (9)	May 24, 2001	Colorado Rockies	John Thomson (1)
10	Felipe Crespo (1)	May 28, 2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Bret Prinz
11	Barry Bonds (10)	May 30, 2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Robert Ellis
12	Barry Bonds (11)	June 12, 2001	Anaheim Angels	Pat Rapp
13	Felipe Crespo (2)	July 8, 2001	Milwaukee Brewers	Curtis Leskanic
14	Barry Bonds (12)	August 4, 2001	Philadelphia Phillies	Nelson Figueroa
15	Barry Bonds (13)	August 14, 2001	Florida Marlins	Ricky Bones
16	Barry Bonds (14)	August 31, 2001	Colorado Rockies	John Thomson (2)
17	Barry Bonds (15)	September 29, 2001	San Diego Padres	Chuck McElroy
18	Barry Bonds (16)	May 13, 2002	Atlanta Braves	Kevin Millwood
19	Barry Bonds (17)	May 18, 2002	Florida Marlins	Brad Penny
20	Barry Bonds (18)	May 18, 2002	Florida Marlins	Vic Darensbourg
21	Barry Bonds (19)	September 8, 2002	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brian Anderson
22	Barry Bonds (20)	September 28, 2002	Houston Astros	Jeriome Robertson
23	Barry Bonds (21)	October 12, 2002	St. Louis Cardinals	Chuck Finley
24	Barry Bonds (22)	April 14, 2003	Houston Astros	Wade Miller
25	Barry Bonds (23)	April 30, 2003	Chicago Cubs	Matt Clement
26	J. T. Snow	June 5, 2003	Minnesota Twins	Kyle Lohse
27	Barry Bonds (24)	June 27, 2003	Oakland Athletics	Ted Lilly
28	José Cruz, Jr.	July 8, 2003	St. Louis Cardinals	Dan Haren
29	Barry Bonds (25)	August 8, 2003	Philadelphia Phillies	José Mesa
30	Barry Bonds (26)	August 19, 2003	Atlanta Braves	Ray King
31	Barry Bonds (27)	September 13, 2003	Milwaukee Brewers	Doug Davis
32	Barry Bonds (28)	April 12, 2004	Milwaukee Brewers	Matt Kinney
33	Barry Bonds (29)	April 13, 2004	Milwaukee Brewers	Ben Ford
34	Michael Tucker (1)	May 30, 2004	Colorado Rockies	Joe Kennedy
35	A. J. Pierzynski	July 6, 2004	Colorado Rockies	Denny Stark
36	Barry Bonds (30)	July 30, 2004	St. Louis Cardinals	Chris Carpenter
37	Barry Bonds (31)	August 3, 2004	Cincinnati Reds	Cory Lidle
38	Michael Tucker (2)	April 9, 2005	Colorado Rockies	Scott Dohmann
39	Randy Winn	September 14, 2005	San Diego Padres	Woody Williams
40	Barry Bonds (32)	September 18, 2005	Los Angeles Dodgers	Hong-Chih Kuo
41	Barry Bonds (33)	August 21, 2006	Arizona Diamondbacks	Liván Hernández (1)
42	Barry Bonds (34)	April 18, 2007	St. Louis Cardinals	Ryan Franklin
43	Ryan Klesko (1)	May 21, 2007	Houston Astros	Trever Miller
44	Ryan Klesko (2)	June 29, 2007	Arizona Diamondbacks	Liván Hernández (2)
45	Barry Bonds (35)	August 8, 2007	Washington Nationals	Tim Redding
46	Fred Lewis	April 26, 2008	Cincinnati Reds	Matt Belisle
47	John Bowker	July 2, 2008	Chicago Cubs	Ryan Dempster
48	Andrés Torres (1)	June 15, 2009	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	John Lackey
49	Pablo Sandoval (1)	July 30, 2009	Philadelphia Phillies	Rodrigo López (1)
50	Pablo Sandoval (2)	August 29, 2009	Colorado Rockies	Jason Marquis
51	Aubrey Huff (1)	May 1, 2010	Colorado Rockies	Rafael Betancourt
52	Aubrey Huff (2)	June 16, 2010	Baltimore Orioles	Jeremy Guthrie
53	Andrés Torres (2)	July 28, 2010	Florida Marlins	Jorge Sosa
54	Pablo Sandoval (3)	August 12, 2010	Chicago Cubs	Randy Wells
55	Pablo Sandoval (4)	September 30, 2010	Arizona Diamondbacks	Barry Enright
56	Pablo Sandoval (5)	July 4, 2011	San Diego Padres	Ernesto Frieri
57	Nate Schierholtz	July 8, 2011	New York Mets	R. A. Dickey
58	Pablo Sandoval (6)	August 31, 2011	Chicago Cubs	Rodrigo López (2)
59	Carlos Beltrán	September 14, 2011	San Diego Padres	Mat Latos
60	Brandon Belt (1)	September 27, 2011	Colorado Rockies	Alex White
61	Brandon Belt (2)	June 14, 2012	Houston Astros	Wandy Rodríguez
62	Brandon Belt (3)	September 4, 2012	Arizona Diamondbacks	Ian Kennedy
63	Pablo Sandoval (7)	May 12, 2013	Atlanta Braves	Kris Medlen
64	Brandon Crawford	April 13, 2014	Colorado Rockies	Rex Brothers
65	Tyler Colvin	May 12, 2014	Atlanta Braves	Gavin Floyd
66	Brandon Crawford (2)	May 14, 2014	Atlanta Braves	David Carpenter
67	Travis Ishikawa	September 12, 2014	Los Angeles Dodgers	Kevin Correia
68	Brandon Belt (4)	September 25, 2014	San Diego Padres	Andrew Cashner

Other McCovey Cove hits

30 non-Giants players have hit the cove 38 times. Of visiting players who have hit the cove, Carlos Delgado, Carlos González and Adam LaRoche have performed the feat the most, doing it three times each. Former Major League baseball players Luis Gonzalez and Cliff Floyd are the only other visiting players to do so twice. Rick Ankiel hit the water on the fly in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the 2010 National League Division Series on October 8, 2010; his run would go on to be the winning run for the Atlanta Braves (this was only the 2nd home run ball hit into McCovey Cove in a postseason game at the time, the first being by Barry Bonds on October 12, 2002, in the National League Championship Series). David Ortiz, Mitch Moreland, and Adam Dunn are the only three American League players to hit the cove. Bryce Harper hit the water on the fly in the 7th inning of Game 4 of the 2014 National League Division Series on October 7, 2014 to tie the game.

Kevin Correia is the only pitcher to have given up a splash hit both as a Giant and as a visiting pitcher (while pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014).

No.	Hitter	Team	Date	Pitcher
1	Todd Hundley	Los Angeles Dodgers	June 30, 2000	Robb Nen
2	Luis Gonzalez (1)	Arizona Diamondbacks	September 23, 2000	Shawn Estes
3	Mark Grace	Arizona Diamondbacks	May 28, 2001	Tim Worrell
4	Luis Gonzalez (2)	Arizona Diamondbacks	May 30, 2002	Kirk Rueter
5	Ryan Klesko	San Diego Padres	April 9, 2003	Ryan Jensen
6	Hee-Seop Choi	Florida Marlins	April 30, 2004	Kevin Correia (1)
7	Corey Patterson	Chicago Cubs	August 7, 2004	Tyler Walker
8	Cliff Floyd (1)	New York Mets	August 21, 2004	Brett Tomko (1)
9	Russell Branyan	Milwaukee Brewers	April 23, 2005	Brett Tomko (2)
10	Larry Walker	St. Louis Cardinals	July 8, 2005	Jason Schmidt
11	Carlos Delgado (1)	Florida Marlins	July 23, 2005	Brad Hennessey
12	Cliff Floyd (2)	New York Mets	April 25, 2006	Jamey Wright
13	Carlos Delgado (2)	New York Mets	April 26, 2006	Matt Morris (1)
14	Carlos Delgado (3)	New York Mets	May 9, 2007	Matt Morris (2)
15	Adam LaRoche (1)	Pittsburgh Pirates	August 11, 2007	Tim Lincecum (1)
16	Lance Berkman	Houston Astros	May 15, 2008	Vinnie Chulk
17	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	July 19, 2008	Osiris Matos
18	Brian Giles	San Diego Padres	August 24, 2008	Kevin Correia (2)
19	Miguel Montero	Arizona Diamondbacks	September 29, 2009	Jonathan Sánchez
20	David Ortiz	Boston Red Sox	June 27, 2010	Tim Lincecum (2)
21	Adam LaRoche (2)	Arizona Diamondbacks	August 27, 2010	Tim Lincecum (3)
22	Adam LaRoche (3)	Arizona Diamondbacks	August 28, 2010	Sergio Romo
23	Rick Ankiel	Atlanta Braves	October 8, 2010	Ramón Ramírez
24	Dioner Navarro	Los Angeles Dodgers	July 20, 2011	Tim Lincecum (4)
25	Mitch Moreland	Texas Rangers	June 9, 2012	Ryan Vogelsong (1)
26	Carlos González	Colorado Rockies	April 8, 2013	Madison Bumgarner (1)
27	Domonic Brown	Philadelphia Phillies	May 6, 2013	Madison Bumgarner (2)
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	May 10, 2013	Matt Cain (1)
29	Carlos González (2)	Colorado Rockies	May 25, 2013	Barry Zito
30	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	August 22, 2013	Matt Cain (2)
31	Carlos González (3)	Colorado Rockies	April 11, 2014	Madison Bumgarner (3)
32	Yasmani Grandal	San Diego Padres	April 30, 2014	Tim Hudson (1)
33	Freddie Freeman	Atlanta Braves	May 12, 2014	Javier López
34	Curtis Granderson	New York Mets	June 8, 2014	Tim Lincecum (5)
35	Adam Dunn	Chicago White Sox	August 13, 2014	Jake Peavy
36	Corey Dickerson	Colorado Rockies	August 27, 2014	Tim Hudson (2)
37	Ender Inciarte	Arizona Diamondbacks	September 9, 2014	Yusmeiro Petit
38	Bryce Harper	Washington Nationals	October 7, 2014	Hunter Strickland
39	Cody Asche	Philadelphia Phillies	July 11, 2015	Ryan Vogelsong (2)

External links

• Unraveling the scientific secrets of the elusive 'Splash Hit' (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Splash Hits: SFGiants.com