John Wesley Covington "WES"
(03/27/1932 - 07/4/2011) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1956 through 1966 for the Milwaukee Braves, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Listed at 6'1” , 205 lb, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Covington was a minor league call-up who sparked the 1957 Braves down the stretch and helped them win the World Series. He hit .284 with 21 home runs and drove in 65 runs in just 96 games over the second half of the 1957 season.
His inspired play continued in the Series against the New York Yankees, highlighted by two defensive gems that helped preserve wins for Lew Burdette. In Game 2, Covington pulled off an improbable backhanded stab to take an extra-base hit away from Bobby Shantz, and in Game 5 he crashed into the fence to steal a homer from Gil McDougald. He also drove in Joe Adcock for what would prove to be the winning run in Game 2, while the Braves won the Series in seven games.
Following his baseball career, Covington moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and operated a sporting goods business. He returned to baseball as a promotions consultant and special ambassador. In 2003, at the invitation of the Braves Historical Association, Covington returned to Milwaukee for the first time in 40 years.
Covington died of cancer in Edmonton in 2011 at the age of 79.
Access the trail by parking on 60th & Dickinson.