Category profile
- Dominance
- 86
- Peak
- 94
- Longevity
- 90
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 94
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 13 | |
| 1960 | 13 | |
| 1961 | 18 | |
| 1962 | 20 | |
| 1963 | 44 | |
| 1964 | 18 | |
| 1965 | 39 | |
| 1966 | 36 | |
| 1967 | 31 | |
| 1968 | 36 | |
| 1969 | 45 | |
| 1970 | 39 | |
| 1971 | 18 | |
| 1972 | 14 | |
| 1973 | 29 | |
| 1974 | 22 | |
| 1975 | 23 | |
| 1976 | 7 | |
| 1977 | 28 | |
| 1978 | 12 | |
| 1979 | 15 | |
| 1980 | 1 |
Data sources
- MLB.com
- Baseball Reference
- National Baseball Hall of Fame
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Willie McCovey ranks #37 in Baseball
Willie McCovey ranks 37th among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 1075th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 86, Peak 94, Longevity 90, Honours 86, Statistics 94. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 262 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1959–1980 with 22 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1969, which sets the Peak component at 94. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes mvp awards 1, career home runs 521, home run titles 3, all-star selections 6.
Immediately ahead sits Buck Leonard on 89.7, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Rogers Hornsby on 89.5. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Willie McCovey GOAT Score explained
- Dominance86/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far McCovey stood above the field while competing. Scored 86/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak94/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1969. Scored 94/100.
- Longevity90/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 21 years of competition and 22 recorded seasons. Scored 90/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics94/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 94/100.
Top McCovey comparisons
Willie McCovey — frequently asked
- Is Willie McCovey the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Willie McCovey ranks 37th in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 89.6, behind Babe Ruth on 94.6.
- What is Willie McCovey's GOAT Score?
- 89.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 86 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 90 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 94 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Willie McCovey rank all time?
- 1075th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 37th within Baseball.
- Willie McCovey vs Buck Leonard: who ranks higher?
- Buck Leonard, on 89.7 against Willie McCovey's 89.6 — a margin of 0.1 points.