In 1958, the year the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco, Testa, approaching thirty years of age ("I told them I was twenty-eight"), went to spring training with the big-league team for the first time. "It was in Phoenix, Arizona, and I was a little in awe of some of the players, Willie Mays, Hank Sauer, and others," he says. "But I did fairly well and made the team as the third-string catcher." His salary for the year was to be $5,600.

The Giants' primary catcher that year was another rookie, Bob Schmidt. Schmidt was backed up by Valme Thomas who, in the previous year, when he was a rookie himself, had shared the position with Ray Katt. (Katt had since been traded.) In fact, the Giants had a number of topflight rookies on the team that year. In addition to Schmidt, there were first baseman Orlando Cepeda, who would become the league's rookie of the year; third baseman Jim Davenport; and outfielders Leon Wagner, Willie Kirkland, and Felipe Alou.

"We played that first year in Seals Stadium [built in 1931]," Testa says. "The team was doing well, and the fans were packing the place. It only held about 22,000, but they filled it all the time."

Major-league baseball's arrival on the West Coast that year swelled attendance. The Giants played before a home crowd that topped the one-million mark that season.

"Cepeda was doing well and even overshadowed Mays," Testa says. "The fans there loved him." Mays, for one, had difficulty understanding that. That year Willie batted .347, second highest in the league, below only Richie Ashburn (and they both had three hits on the final day of the season). Cepeda hit .312. While Mays and Cepeda both had 96 runs batted in, Mays hit 29 homers to Cepeda's 25. And while Cepeda led the league in doubles that year, Mays led it in runs scored and in stolen bases. Mays also had more than 200 hits that year. "While Cepeda was phenomenal as a rookie and a favorite of the fans," Testa says, "Mays could beat you every day in every way. He really came to play."

The team, under manager Bill Rigney, started strong and were in first place at the end of July before slumping and finishing third, 12 games behind the Milwaukee Braves (spearheaded that year by Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, and Lew Burdette), and four games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were led by Frank Thomas, Roberto Clemente, Bob Skinner, and Bob Friend.

On the Giants, Testa became closest to teammates Rueben Gomez and Don Taussig, with whom he had roomed in the minors. "Johnny Antonelli [who led the Giants' pitching staff that year] also sort of took me under his wing," Testa recalls, "a fellow paisano."

Testa was not just a catcher who warmed up pitchers, however. He did many other things to make himself useful to the club. He particularly remembers throwing "a lot of extra batting practice to Sauer. He used to take a lot of batting practice," Testa says, "and I was his favorite pitcher."

» NEXT