With the Poseys soon off to Georgia, Saturday’s ceremony was a farewell in a couple ways, to Posey’s decorated playing career but also to his impact on the Bay Area community and the Giants organization. The ones that were the best were the ones that every day they were excited, even if they probably weren’t excited to be there some days, they still made it seem like this is something special that we get to come out and do today.” “That’s what I took away from my coaches when I was little. “Hopefully one that the kids are excited to show up to practices and games,” Posey said. Maybe he hasn’t developed any managerial tendencies just yet, but Posey knows the kind of coach he wants to be for his kids and their teammates. “It’s good because they get to play everywhere.” At 11 years old, Addy and Lee are “playing all over,” Posey said. Neither Posey kid has taken after their dad quite yet behind the plate, though even Buster pitched and played shortstop through his college career at Florida State. “At this point, we’ve been going for a couple months, so I’m just kind of another dad to the kids on the team,” Posey said. The team will have a role for him in the near future - one of those retainer gigs that so many other departing Giants have taken on their way out the door.Posey, who was reticent about the spotlight even on the day named for him, has enjoyed the innocence and relative anonymity that accompanies 60-foot base paths and 200-foot fences. Posey said the family will move back to his native Georgia eventually. “All of us who have been around the game for a long time - unfortunately you do see players who get to the end of their career, and the game does get hard. “I think that’s important to me,” Posey said. No, Posey will go out the same way he came in: great. He passed up a $20-million option that the Giants were due to exercise this weekend. “I truly felt like I became a Giant.”Īnd in the years to come, when we look back on Posey’s great career, I believe we’ll be thankful that he saw it fit to exit in this manner - that he didn’t play through the pain, putting his love of the game aside for the cash that comes with it. “There’s nothing else that anyone could have done to make me feel more comfortable,” he said. Three years later, that vision led to 107 wins and a wholly unexpected division title.īut it was that initial acceptance that resonated with Zaidi. After all, the Giants were Posey’s team and Zaidi was an outsider. Posey feeling out the new boss a bit, Zaidi sharing his vision for the team. Not just with a text message saying “congrats,” but with a request to meet.Ī few days later, the two spent hours in a backroom of Oracle Park. “It was a real adjustment period for me,” he said. Zaidi confessed that he was “rattled” those early days on the job. His analytical background, his Dodgers roots, and, sadly, the fact that Zaidi was baseball’s first Muslim team president, did not make his welcome to the Bay Area warm. He was a numbers guy taking over a team that was run in an old-school way. Remember, Zaidi came to the Giants from the Dodgers. Related Articlesĥ things to know about SF Giants’ new star Jung Hoo Lee He shared the story of their first meeting. Zaidi, who only had a short professional relationship with Posey, seemed the most moved by the catcher’s retirement. Not only was he a great player (and yet, still, underrated), he led off the diamond as well. There’s no question Posey was the best of the best. More important was his desire to spend more time with his wife, his four children, and his extended family. Ultimately for the Giants’ catcher, the pain that came with being behind the plate for more than a decade was a big part of the decision. Yes, the man we saw behind and at the plate for years was anything but an artificial character. He was committed to thanking everyone he could. There was a bit of early emotion, but otherwise, Posey was deliberate in announcing a decision he made months ago but finalized only days ago. He was emotional but steady in his final goodbye. That’s part of the reason I feel at peace with my decision,” Posey said Thursday. And even as he posted an All-Star campaign - the seventh of his career - and led the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins, he never wavered in his decision.
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