Boston Red Sox: Killer B’s versus the 1950’s Willie’s
By Rick McNair
The Boston Red Sox have the “Killer B’s” and the Giants once had “The Willie’s.” Now a look at the Willie’s and the Sox B’s.
The Red Sox now have the “Killer B’s” in their lineup. Originally the catchy phrase was the result of Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, and Jackie Bradley all performing in combined excellence – all three made the American League All-Star team. Since then another “B” has been added with Andrew Benintendi adding his talents offensively and defensively to the mix.
The Red Sox may have the Killer B’s, but in another era, another team had the ability to give the opposition a case of the “Willies” and that was the San Francisco Giants in 1959. This time, it was not the last name, but the first that the ever creative media pounced upon with similar creativeness as demonstrated by the Boston moniker.
The first and most important Willie was Willie Mays. The first name was actually Willie and in 1959 Mays was the star of stars in baseball. In the prime of his Hall of Fame career Mays slashed .313/.381/.583 and led the National League with 27 steals. Mays also had a ho-hum 34 home runs and 104 RBI. The “Say Hey Kid” won a Gold Glove – an annual event – and was an All-Star for the third-place Giants.
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A second Willie was Willie Kirkland, who had joined the Giants via the trek through the farm system and joining the team in 1958 – a season that had the beginning roots of Willie’s phenomenon. In 1959 Willie – also his legitimate first name – slashed .272/.335/.475 with 22 home runs and 68 RBI for the 25-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder.
The Willie’s triumvirate became compete in 1959 with the emergence of a hot as blazes rookie – Willie McCovey. To make the threesome name recognition complete McCovey was also a real and authentic Willie. Three “Willie’s” in the same lineup. McCovey played only 52 games, but was Rookie of the Year. Why? Try a slash of .354/.429/.656 and a David Ortiz-like OPS of 1.085. McCovey also hammered 13 home runs and 38 RBI.
The press agent dream started to crumble in 1960 when McCovey – a lanky left-handed batter – went flat, as in .238 flat. Kirkland hit .252, but did have 21 home runs and Mays hit .319 for the fifth place, Giants. The “Willie’s” collectively simply were not giving anyone the “Willies.”
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By 1961 Kirkland was gone – sent packing to Cleveland in a trade. Mays hit 40 home runs and gathered in 123 RBI and McCovey did little at .271 to show he would be in the Hall of Fame. The Giants also had a smooth left-handed pitcher named Billy O’Dell, who was not pleased with attempts to circumvent Billy by making it Willie.
In 1962 the Giants lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. McCovey made the last out in the seventh game with a rocket line drive caught at second by Bobby Richardson. The PR geniuses also made a feeble attempt to get newly acquired Billy Pierce into Willie mojo, but that attempt met stone cold silence by Pierce who finished 16-6.
The Red Sox “Killer B’s” are on a path to certainly exceed the accomplishment of the Giants “Willie’s” since there is numerical superiority. The Giants did produce two Hall of Fame members, but the Red Sox certainly have the appearance in the early going of maybe matching that by 2035.
The Boston grouping certainly has an edge in versatility. Mays is on another planet with his level of ability, but neither McCovey nor Kirkland could be considered having the all-around ability of the Boston collection.
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This season the core of the Red Sox will be around their “Killer B’s” and the season may depend upon their offensive production and defensive contributions. The outfield B’s could eventually be considered the finest outfield in Red Sox history.
Then there were the M & M boys of 1961.
Sources: Baseball-Reference/The San Francisco Giants: 50 Years by Brian Murphy/My fading memory