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Billy Cowan

Billy Cowan
Ultimate Mets Database popularity ranking: 412 of 1252 players
Cowan
Billy Rolland Cowan
Born: August 28, 1938 at Calhoun City, Miss.
Throws: Right Bats: Right
Height: 6.00 Weight: 170

Billy Cowan was the most popular Ultimate Mets Database daily lookup on December 7, 2014, February 8, 2019, and August 28, 2020.

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First Mets game: April 12, 1965
Last Mets game: August 4, 1965

Share your memories of Billy Cowan

HERE IS WHAT OTHER METS FANS HAVE TO SAY:

Bob Gritsavage
I remember on the bus ride home from an excursion to a Mets game one kid got Billy Cowan's autograph on a baseball card. I traded him a banana for it.

h kaminski
January 28, 2002
 billy cowan made one of the greatest catches I ever saw by a centerfielder,when he caught a ball over his shoulder in dead center to rob dennis menke of the braves and preserve a met victory on a sunny sunday afternoon at shea.

FRED of NYACK
March 18, 2003
 I though he was going to be pretty good because he had hit 19 home runs the year before (Wrigley Field might have had something to do with it). Then I remember a pre-game show that had a shot of him and Jim Hickman, who was going through a period of not playing and the story was about major league "caddies" players who rarely got in. It was the first time I heard that expression.

Paul Briamonte
April 16, 2003
 What a smile it brought to my face when I read about Billy Cowan's great catch, the best catch I ever saw up to that point in my life

I remember watching that game on TV. I was about seven years old. As soon as the catch was made my father said out loud “That is one of the greatest catches I have ever seen”. About two seconds later, the announcer (either Lindsey Nelson or Bob Murphy) said the exact same thing. It made my father even more credible in my young eyes as a baseball expert.

How did you ever remember that Dennis Menke hit that ball? I thought I had a great memory, but this is unbelievable.

With regard to Tom's comment, I remember I once watched a Kiner's Korner in which Ralph and Billy told a story of Billy's first game as a rookie Chicago Cub when he struck out his first four times up with the ovation from the Met fans building each time until the fifth time up he hit a home run off Jack Fisher.

Jim L
June 19, 2003
 I was at Shea in 1965 when the Mets were playing the Pirates. Billy Cowan hits a shot to right that looks as if is going out, but Roberto Clemente makes an incredible catch robbing him of a home run. Anyone remember this?

Bob P
March 13, 2005
 Getting back to the first post on Billy Cowan: he did in fact strike out six times in a game, but he did it while with the Angels on July 9, 1971.

The Angels and A's played a 20-inning game that night. It ended 1-0 in favor of Oakland. It was the longest shutout in major league history Cowan, batting cleanup for the Angels, went 0-for-8 with six strikeouts.

He struck out his first five at bats (all against Vida Blue, who went eleven innings in the game) and didn't put a ball in play until the fourteenth inning!

Feat Fan
July 18, 2005
 In 1964, 19 home runs seemed like a big deal. Think of how exciting Swoboda's 19 as a freshman was a year later.

However, the friendly confines of Wrigley Field could not help him once he arrived at Shea. Along with his anemic .183 average, yet another potential "star" that didn't pan out.

Hung around as a useful 5th outfielder in the AL and played a spell in the Bronx.

19 home runs is not as exciting in '05, is it?

agee_of_aquarius
March 19, 2006
 Billy, you swung so hard. All we needed was single. You were a good fielder. You could have been a good centerfielder for us, but you should have met the ball instead of swung through it. We might have won a pennant together in '69!

Bill Deegan
April 15, 2007
 I remember his wife appeared on the TV game show "I've Got a Secret" in 1965.

Brian Tasman
September 19, 2008
 I remember that great catch so well. Billy was running away with his back to the plate. The ball flew directly over his head and he caught it with his arms outstretched. I don't know how he coulda even seen it.

Jughead
May 23, 2012
 Have you ever seen Billy's 1972 Topps baseball card? As a member of the Angels, his head is directly beneath the halo of the "Big A" scoreboard tower at Anaheim Stadium. One of the funniest cards I ever saw!

Bob Anthony
October 12, 2013
 I remember the catch quite well. Was in first grade at the time and remember the announcers commenting about how spectacular it was. It was like some of the catches Jim Edmonds made in center with his back to the plate. Looking up the date, it was the second game of the doubleheader on May 9 which the Mets won 5-4. Another case of an ordinary player doing the extraordinary since we remember it almost a half century later.

Hot Foot
May 22, 2023
 The Collin Cowgill of 1965.

Both were Opening Day center fielders with last names beginning with 'Cow' (and 'double L's' in their first name [!]), both finished the year with a .180 batting average, both had eight-game stretches during the year where they played like all-stars (with Cowan's coming between June 20th and June 29th, when he hit all three of his home runs, drove in four, and hit .318 with a 1.121 OPS). Also, both played the majority of their careers playing for the Angels.

By the way, Cowgill's eight-day hot streak did not include his grand slam on Opening Day, since his average quickly plummeted below .150. Of course, it came after he had been traded to Anaheim.

Flitgun Frankie
July 6, 2023
 I remember Billy Cowan with the Yankees. A little too young to remember him with the Mets. He had OK batting averages with other teams, but, man, he couldn't hit with in NY. As a kid I thought he kind of looked like Joe Pepitone, and since he came to the Yankees just as Pepitone was leaving, I thought maybe the Yankees thought the fans wouldn't notice the difference. That's how a little kid thinks.

Reading here that he made one of the all-time great catches in baseball history off of Denis Menke reminds me that Joe Rudi's famous World Series catch was also made off of Menke. That happens when you have warning track power. One other thought after all these years is how far the Yankees had fallen by 1969 that they had to resort to picking up guys who had washed out with the Mets when the Mets were still a 110+ loss team.








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