President Barack Obama is leaving office on Friday, and he’s had a busy week. He met with the Chicago Cubs on Monday to celebrate their World Series win, but that wasn’t the only baseball thing the Baseball-Fan-In-Chief had time for.
President Obama officially pardoned San Francisco Giants slugger Wille McCovey for a 1995 charge of tax evasion. McCovey made $70,000 from autographs and memorabilia shows between 1988 and 1990, which he knowingly failed to report to the federal government as income. McCovey served no jail time, but was fined $5,000 and sentenced to two years of probation. Dodgers player Duke Snider also admitted to failing to report sports-related income to the federal government in 1995, but was not granted a posthumous pardon by President Obama (Snider died in 2011).
McCovey was incredibly grateful that his pardon was one of the 64 that President Obama issued on Tuesday, and he released a statement through the Giants:
“I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Obama not only for this kind gesture on my behalf, but also for his tireless service to all Americans. He will be deeply missed and I wish him all the best in the future.”
McCovey is a legendary Giants hitter who spent 19 years as a member of that team. He bashed 469 of his 521 career home runs for them, and the cove outside of AT&T Park bears his name. McCovey, who is now 79, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.
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