SF salutes franchise icon Posey on Saturday
Team to honor ex-catcher before he's off to Georgia
When Buster Posey shows up for a ballgame, there is no clubhouse, no training room and no pungent smell of garlic fries.
The seven-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion is still lugging catcher's gear around, but these days, he's using a wheelbarrow to shuttle equipment to the dugout instead of tossing it in an oversized duffle bag that drapes over his shoulder.
“It's really full circle for me to see why I fell in love with the game to begin with,” Posey, an assistant youth coach, told KNBR on Thursday. “It's so pure at that age.”
Posey, who retired in November following a storied Giants career, is spending his final months in the Bay Area coaching his 10-year-old twins. Lee plays baseball, Addi plays softball, and nowadays, there's a “Buster Hug” after every game.
Posey, his wife, Kristen, and their four children including
adopted twins, Ada and Livvi, will soon move back home to Georgia, where the Giants first scouted Posey as a pitcher and shortstop at Lee County High. Before the Posey family departs, the Giants are holding “Buster Posey Day” on Saturday at Oracle Park, where fans will have the chance to say farewell and honor a player who made an indelible impact on the franchise.
“In many ways, Buster is the Willie Mays of this generation,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said this week.
In 2010, as a rookie catcher and cleanup hitter, Posey led the Giants to their first title since the team moved west from New York in 1958. Two years after he pounded on the podium following a Market Street parade and begged his teammates to bring home another, Posey won the MVP and the Giants did it again. In October 2014, the bullpen gate in Kansas City swung open, Madison Bumgarner walked through it and five innings later, the Giants were champions for a third time in five seasons.
The franchise of Mays, McCovey and Bonds came oh-so-close before Posey, but still couldn't have imagined the unprecedented heights it would soar to after selecting him with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft.
“To know the personality he is, the type of work ethic he had and for him to have the type of year he did, we were concerned he may not be there (at No. 5),” former amateur scouting director John Barr said. “But when Peter Magowan asked me, and Bill Neukom asked me if I thought he was going to be there, I said he's going to be there because it's meant to be.”
On Saturday, at 3:15 p.m., the Giants will hold a pregame ceremony honoring Posey.
“Buster is not looking for kudos,” Baer said. “But the fans wanted to be able to say goodbye, and obviously the loss in the playoffs to the Dodgers (last October) was their last on-field memory of him.”
Yes, after winning a Silver Slugger, leading the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins and turning in his best season since the team won its last title, Posey began informing high-ranking members of the organization in late October of his plans to spend more time with his family.
“I see `Buster Posey' flash on the phone,” Baer recalled. “So I was actually thinking this was going to have something to do with him, given the year he had last year, maybe expanding beyond the option year. Then when Buster got into it and started speaking in a heartfelt way, it was pure Buster.”
Posey turned down a $22 million team option for 2022 and the chance to add to his Hall of Fame candidacy and will instead continue with the organization in a new, still-to-be-determined role. Posey intends to stay closely connected to the Giants, which Baer called a “dream” for a franchise that wants to continue the association “for decades to come.”
The Giants are keeping the details of Saturday's ceremony a secret from Posey, but it's only the first of many celebrations that will honor a player who changed the trajectory of the franchise. In the future, there will be World Series reunions and almost assuredly a jersey retirement day and a statue unveiling.
But for now, the Giants wanted to give Posey and fans the chance to interact with one another while the memories of his playing days are still fresh.
When Saturday's ceremony begins, Posey's parents, children, siblings, nieces and nephews will all be in attendance. So will some of his most respected rivals, as the festivities take place before a matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals, who bring future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina and longtime NL West foes Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to town.
For Posey, almost always the most stoic figure on the field, keeping his emotions in check might finally prove to be a challenge. After all, he's taking his cues from a different type of player these days.
“With 10 years olds, emotions are running high,” Posey told KNBR. “And sometimes you never know, maybe they didn't get the right snack before practice.”