Giants manager Bruce Bochy joins 2,000-win club
Veteran manager began his managerial career 25 years ago, will be Hall eligible in 2021
BOSTON — Bruce Bochy admitted he hadn’t given much thought to joining one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs.
On the brink of earning his 2,000th career victory as a major league manager, Bochy sat in the visitor’s dugout at Fenway Park before Wednesday’s game and downplayed what reaching the milestone would mean to him.
“I’ll be honest, that’s not a number I’ve ever thought about,” Bochy said. “I know it’s a possibility it could happen this year.”
When Bochy’s San Francisco Giants put the finishing touches on an 11-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, the possibility became a reality and he could no longer ignore the significance of the accomplishment.
Fans gathered behind the visitor’s dugout to chant Bochy’s name while Red Sox manager Alex Cora and his staff came out of the home dugout to acknowledge a
manager who broke into an exclusive club with 10 games to spare.
“I had some emotions going through me during that,” Bochy said. “I’m just really overwhelmed by it to be honest.”
With 11 days remaining until Bochy steps away from the dugout and rides off into retirement, he became the 11th manager in Major League history to record 2,000 wins. The 10 who joined the club before him are all in the Hall of Fame.
With the countdown to 2,000 victories now over, the next countdown has officially begun.
If Bochy keeps his word and stays away from managing, the Today’s Game Committee will decide his Hall of Fame fate in December, 2021. A 2022 summer ceremony in Cooperstown is three years away, and it’s only a matter of time before Bochy’s plaque is placed alongside the rest of baseball’s legends.
As his 25th consecutive season managing in the major leagues draws to a close, Bochy expressed an appreciation for all the support he’s received from front offices, coaches and players along his journey.
“That number just represents so many people,” Bochy said. “More than anybody are those players. I just told them, when they hear that number hopefully they realize what a big part they had to do with it.”
After recording each of their first seven wins in September in one-run games, the Giants helped Bochy breath easier — a luxury he’s rarely been afforded — as they tacked on seven insurance runs in the final two innings.
The early help in Wednesday’s victory was provided by a starting pitcher who has a tremendous appreciation for Bochy’s old-school style, veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija.
Samardzija didn’t yield his first hit on Wednesday until the bottom of the sixth, when Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers lined his 30th home run of the season out to right field. The home run was the only real blemish for Samardzija, who had “no limit,” according to Bochy and was going to stay in the game until he allowed a base hit.
Instead of watching the final outs from the clubhouse, Samardzija came back to the dugout to witness the ovation Bochy received.
“I went down there the last inning and got to watch those last three outs and it was just kind of a surreal moment,” Samardzija said.
Samardzija’s six innings of one-run ball led the pitching staff while designated hitter Stephen Vogt — a player many teammates believe will make an outstanding manager in the future — homered off of Pesky Pole and drove in four runs to pace the Giants’ offense on a historic night for their 13th-year manager.
“It was an unbelievable night and it just gives you a great appreciation after playing for awhile of how many wins 2,000 is,” Samardzija said. “The games, the pitches he’s seen, if you put it into context, it’s really unbelievable.”
The Giants gained a first-inning edge for the second consecutive game as center fielder Kevin Pillar extended his team lead in RBI with his 82nd on a groundout that brought home Mike Yastrzemski. The Giants’ opening salvo sounded a little louder on Wednesday as Vogt extended the lead with a memorable home run.
Vogt’s two-run shot would have hooked into foul territory in 29 of 30 stadiums around the league, but at Fenway Park, it clanked off of Pesky Pole and trickled onto the warning track for a 307-foot homer.
“It’s a foul ball at every other park in America so it was pretty special to have kind of a unique home run like that,” Vogt said.
The Giants designated hitter became the seventh different player on the team to hit 10 home runs this season, and he did it a night after setting a new major league record. By catching all 13 pitchers the Giants used in Tuesday’s 15-inning win, Vogt established a new standard for the most pitchers caught in a single game.
It was the type of performance that resonated with a former catcher such as Bochy, but Bochy’s efforts in leading the Giants have made an even greater impression on Vogt.
“As somebody who has loved this franchise since I could walk, it’s pretty special to be in the dugout with somebody, probably the most storied manager in the history of this organization,” Vogt said.