Willie McGee (born November 2, 1958 in San Francisco, California) is a former outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals (1982 - 1990), the Oakland Athletics (briefly in 1990), the San Francisco Giants (1991 - 1994), the Boston Red Sox (1995), and then again the Cardinals (1996 - 1999) McGee was considered one of the most beloved Cardinals of all time by many fans, and helped them win a World Series in 1982, his first year in the majors. That year, he batted .296, with 4 home runs and 56 RBI's. McGee's numbers generally progressed with every season, and he became one of the most consistent players of all time.
By far his best year was 1985, when he was named the National League MVP. His stats were outstanding, picking up 216 hits on the year, 10 home runs, 82 RBI's, and an incredible .353 batting average, which was good for a batting title. Other stats included 56 stolen bases, 114 runs scored, and a .503 slugging percentage. He also led the league in triples with 18. It was clear why he was being named MVP and made an all-star for the 2nd of 4 times. To add to all that, he won a Gold Glove Award in the outfield.
McGee's last year of full-time play was 1993 with the Giants where he again batted over .300 (.301), and drove in 46 runs.
His last years brought him back to St. Louis, where he was used a utility player, averaging about 300 at bats a year. He played his final game on October 3, 1999 when he was the third-oldest player in the majors.
In his career, he played 2201 games, batted .295, hit 79 home runs, drove in 856 runs, and stole 352 bases. He had a total of 1010 runs scored and 2254 hits in his career, in 7649 at bats. He ended his career with 3029 total bases. He hit for the cycle on June 23, 1984.
He had a .976 fielding percentage overall, including the 18 games he played not in the outfield.
In 2005, his first year of eligibility, McGee received 5f the vote (26 votes) from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, thus narrowly retaining eligibility to appear on the next year's BBWAA ballot. In 2006, however, McGee did receive less than 5f the vote from the BBWAA (he received 12 votes; the threshold was 26), and therefore is no longer eligible for future consideration by the BBWAA. However, he may eventually be considered for induction into the Hall by the Veterans Committee once 20 years have passed from his date of retirement (therefore, in the year 2020), in accordance with current Hall of Fame rules (enacted in 2001).
