Dave Edlund is someone who most of us have never heard of. He is known as McCovey Cove Dave.
Dave, thanks for taking the time. Tell us more about yourself.
I started listening to the Giants radio broadcasts in 1963 and the Giants already had great broadcasters in Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges. I was seemingly born to be a radio listening baseball fan from the very beginning! Even from the beri beginning, I loved all the numbers and records that were part of baseball and that was exciting to me. My brother and I would recalculate Giants batting averages in our heads in the 1960’s as we listened to each at bat during the radio broadcast. We both became great at math. All that practice in baseball math lead me to a 20 year career in finance at Hewlett-Packard. I was its Assistant Treasurer and also a Business Unit Financial Controller
I went to my first Giants game on June 22, 1967 and I got to see both Willie Mays and Hank Aaron hit HR’s that day. To me, my favorite play in baseball has always been the HR and the longer the better. Over my life, I became an expert kayaker and swimmer and my love of baseball did not diminish. In 2001, I realized that my skills as a paddler and my love of radio baseball was the perfect combination for McCovey Cove. So, I went to my first game in McCovey Cove in a kayak on October 5, 2001 when Barry Bonds hit his 71st and 72nd HR’s and his 71st almost made it out to the Cove. I could see it in the air and I badly wanted to come out to more Giants games in the Cove. But my career and other family commitments would not let me come out to the Cove. I was just too busy. It was not until late in the 2005 season that I could become a McCovey Cove regular and on 9/14/05, I grabbed splash #39 hit by Randy Winn. On May 21st of the 2007 season, ESPN watched me grab Ryan Klesko’s splash #43 and that night, they referred to me as Dave Edlund of the “Bonds Navy”. “Bonds Navy” was the perfect name for my group of Giants kayakers as Barry Bonds was the king of splash hits. So my group of kayakers wore Bonds Navy orange hoodies for the next 5 years in tribute to Barry Bonds.
How did the “McCovey Cove Dave” start?
In 2011, my son reminded me that Barry Bonds had been gone for five years that I should retire my BONDS NAVY hoodie that I normally wear in McCovey Cove for eery game. So, he gave me two orange hoodies as a Father’s Day present. One just said “DAVE” and the other said “McCovey Cove DAVE”. He said, Barry is retired dad, just be yourself! And so I started wearing these new hoodies. On 9/14/11 when I grabbed Carlos Beltran’s 300th career HR from McCovey Cove wearing my “DAVE” hoodie, Kruk and Kuip looked at me and said on the broadcast” DAVE’s got it”. That was the day I officially become McCovey Cove DAVE. Before that, I was just the BONDS NAVY member that grabbed most of the HR’s.
How many “splash hits” do you have?
I have 17 HR’s from McCovey Cove so far. 8 are Giants splash hits that have not touched any part of the Park. 3 are Giants opponent splash hits. 6 are HR’s that we call “bounce-in” HR and they touched some part of the park as they travelled out. Every Giants HR is a thrill and when I see them in the air leaving the park, it is a super exciting moment!
At XMAS this year, my son Steve said it would be a fun goal to try to grab more HR’s than Barry Bonds hit into the Cove. Barry hit 39. So he said get 40 HR’s! It is a lofty goal, but I going to try to do it. It will not be easy as AT&T Park is the hardest park in baseball to hit a HR. The Giants only hit 31 in all of the 82 regular season games last year and that is to all fields!
Barry Bonds hit 35 splash HR’s and 4 HR’s that bounced into the Cove during his career. So I have 23 more HR’s to go!
Growing up who were your favorite players? and do you have a favorite player today?
I have been a Giants fan since 1963 when I started listening to Giants games on the radio with my brother as a 7 year old. I quickly became a fan of the HR and Willie McCovey a power lefty was my favorite player. Being a lefty myself, I was partial to lefties. Today, I still listen it every Giants game in radio, but now from my kayak, and while 50 years has passed, Willie McCovey is still my favorite player. Not only was he a great baseball player, but if you know anything about Willie McCovey, he is a genuine human being and carries a smile through life. I love that!
Panda with his 1st Career SPLASH HR hit on 9/30/2009.
Of all the balls you have retrieved, do you have a favorite?
Everyone of my HR grabs are special for one reason of another. Some are part of MLB records, some are career milestones and some I had to swim for! But my favorite HR was Pablo Sandoval’s first Splash HR which he hit on 7/30/09 and Pablo at age 22 became the youngest player ever to hit a splash hit! It was very crowded that night in McCovey Cove and i got lucky as the ball landed maybe 3 feet from my kayak. I so wanted his first splash as I felt he was a special player. When he hit it, I knew it was the 50th anniversary of Willie McCovey MLB debut and Willie was in the TV Broadcast booth with Kruk and Kuip when the HR was hit. Here is a video of the HR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6giXGfIsE9k
How many people are out in the cove any given night during a game?
On a typical night, there are about 4-6 fans trying to chase down HR balls in the Cove. Most our regulars that have at least 100 games of McCovey Cove action under their belt. On weekends, there are a lot more fans, but most are there just to party!. During the playoffs, there are about 30-40 kayakers waiting for action.
Dave, thanks for taking the time. Is there anything you would like to add?
One of the things I do to be successful in McCovey Cove is to use statistics and Saber Metrics to determine which days to go to McCovey Cove and where to position my kayak. I try first to determine if a splash hit is even possible and things like wind, air temperature and who’s pitching plays a big role in that calculation. Then, as I try to be the best outfielder I can be. I position my kayak where the HR is most likely going to land and that requires me to study every HR a player has hit for 5 years or more and to use all the statistics training I have. Then I train year round to be able to out-paddle my competition in the Cove. I have been to 238 Giants games so far and 24 HR’s have landed in the Cove. I have picked up 17 of them for a 70% success rate. I put in a lot of extra effort, but it pays off.
I want people to have a great experience when they come out to the Cove and I try to educate people on all the major things they need to know and bring. I love to be reached at Dave Edlund on Facebook and at @McCoveyCoveDAVE or at my email which is: McCoveyCoveDAVE@gmail.com and I will help you get ready for McCovey Cove.
One of my dreams is to catch a HR ball bare-handed in McCovey Cove and I am mentally ready to go for it when the opportunity happens. It will be difficult as once I see the ball, I don’t have much time to react.
I tweet and Facebook all the action live from McCovey Cove and if you follow me, you will get the inside scoop on all the Splash hit HR’s!
Here is a video of my first swim for HR. I made the mistake of taking off my radio to talk to a friend and Pablo hit splash hit #55 and I had no choice but to swim for it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=gnJ_jes_Imc