Former SF Giants, Padres first baseman passes away at 70

Mike Ivie played for the SF Giants from 1978-1981 and was briefly dubbed as Willie McCovey's heir apparent.

Mike Ivie, a former SF Giants first baseman who played in parts of 11 MLB seasons in the 1970s and 1980s, passed away on Friday in North Augusta, South Carolina after battling ongoing health issues, according to an obituary from Posey Funeral Directors. He was 70.

After being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the country by the Padres in the 1970 MLB Draft, Ivie was expected to hold down the fort as San Diego’s catcher of the future until an encounter with the yips –– he struggled to throw the ball back to the pitcher –– diminished any future behind the plate. He would later find comfort as a utilityman who primarily played first base, but appeared in cameos at third base and the outfield –– he would only end up in the squat five times across his 857-game career.

The Giants acquired Ivie from the Padres for Derrel Thomas ahead of the 1978 season and used their new 25-year-old as a right-handed complement to aging future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey at first base.

In 1978, Ivie immediately displayed significant signs of becoming a piece the Giants could build around, blasting 11 homers, 14 doubles, and knocking home 55 runs with a .838 OPS in just 352 plate appearances. It was enough of a sample size for San Francisco to reward him with more playing time the following season, again splitting time with McCovey, now 41, at first and Terry Whitfield in left field.

The Giants didn’t regret their decision.

Ivie enjoyed a fantastic season in 1979, achieving career-highs in every major offensive category including homers (27), RBI (89), slugging (.547), and OPS (.906) in .455 plate appearances across 133 games. Among big league first basemen with at least 450 plate appearances, Ivie’s 146 wRC+ was second only to St Louis’ Keith Hernandez.

Ivie achieved the feat of hitting four out of his 27 homers as grand slams, with two of them occurring while he was a pinch-hitter. This remains a single-season record for pinch-hit grand slams.

Encouraged by the idea that Ivie could officially take the reins at first base from McCovey, the Giants were prepared to stick with Ivie until an offseason finger injury caused a steep decline in his overall production. Discouraged, Ivie prematurely announced his retirement on June 26, 1980, but found himself back with the club in July after undergoing substantial counseling.

San Francisco cut ties with Ivie shortly after the 1981 season began, trading him to Houston on April 20 for Dave Bergman and Jeffrey Leonard –– the latter ended up spending eight seasons with the organization and earning an All-Star Game selection in 1987.

Although he never lived up to the lofty expectation of replacing McCovey, Ivie’s career could still place him as a top-ten first baseman in SF Giants history. Since 1958 with a minimum of 450 plate appearances, he’s ninth in homers (42), 10th in RBI (172), seventh in batting average and slugging (.281 and .466), sixth in wRC+ (124), and 11th in fWAR (5.5).

Ivie finished his career with the Tigers in 1983 and later opened a pro shop in Snellville, Georgia.

The entire Giants Baseball Insider team sends our condolences to the family and friends of Mike Ivie.