Bob Stevens, 85; Bay Area Sportswriter, Baseball Hall of Famer

Bob Stevens, 85, a sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle who covered baseball for nearly 50 years and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, died Wednesday, apparently of natural causes, at his home in San Bruno, Calif.

Stevens, who began writing for the Chronicle in 1935, was inducted into the sportswriting wing of the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Stevens began by covering the Pacific Coast League teams the Oakland Oaks and the San Francisco Seals, and was the beat writer for the Seals from 1940 until the Giants came to San Francisco in 1958. He then became the Giants beat writer, and also covered every World Series and All-Star game from 1958 to 1978.

One of his best lines came in 1959 while covering the first of what was then the traditional two All-Star games. After Willie Mays tripled to center field at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Stevens’ said: “The only man who could have caught that ball hit it.”