NOW, WHAT, BUSTER?

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BY KERRY CROWLEY

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Major League Baseball hoped to provide its fans with a meaningful distraction. Teams played in empty stadiums, the regular season lasted just 60 games, and positive tests forced frequent postponements, but the vast majority of the league pressed on as if life were supposed to look normal.

Buster Posey couldn’t.

After adopting identical newborn twin girls, Ada and Livvi, weeks before a rescheduled Opening Day, the Giants’ franchise player and his wife, Kristen, decided it was in the family’s best interest for Posey to skip the season.

“From a baseball standpoint, it was a tough decision,” Posey said during his announcement two summers ago. “From a family standpoint and feeling like I’m making a decision to protect our children, I think it was relatively easy.”

If anchoring three World Series title teams somehow failed to bring Posey’s contributions into focus, the star catcher’s year away from the Giants provided a clear view of all he o ered the organization.

“I realized we were lost,” president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said that November.

The Giants without Posey simply weren’t the same.

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey warms up before Game 5 of the National League Division Series in San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2021.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

“We still managed to have a pretty good season, but I think we would have been a post-season team that year with the team leader and one of the best catchers in baseball on the team,” shortstop and longtime teammate Brandon Crawford said.

Posey returned to the diamond last season, and it was as if he had never left. He hit .304 with 18 home runs, earned an All-Star nod and a Silver Slugger and appeared on multiple Most Valuable Player ballots after leading the Giants to a franchise-record 107 victories.

But less than a month after a dream season ended, Posey donned a navy blue suit to a news conference inside Oracle Park and

Above: Posey hits a double during the National League Divisional Series in 2021.

Left: Walking with former manager Bruce Bochy, Posey and his family look out at the field where he played for 12 years as he arrives to announce his retirement.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

announced he was once again stepping away from baseball. This time, it’s the end.

“Physically, it’s much harder now,” Posey said last November as he announced his retirement from baseball after 12 seasons — all with the Giants. “It’s hard to enjoy it as much when there’s physical pain you’re dealing with on a daily basis. I halfway joke with our training sta about being done five years ago, but I don’t know how far of a stretch that’s really o .”

At 34 years old, a player unlike any the Giants have had in their storied history said goodbye. Barry Bonds is the all-time home run king. Willie Mays might be the greatest player baseball has ever seen. But Posey, he’s the man who took the Giants to unprecedented heights.

A franchise that had spent 51 years in San Francisco before winning a title claimed the World Series in Posey’s rookie season. Two years later, he won the MVP and a second ring. Two years after that, the Giants achieved dynasty status with their third championship in five seasons.

“These players come around once a generation,” former teammate Hunter Pence said. “He’s a generational talent, and it was really incredible he was able to be a Giant his whole career. It’s definitely going to look di erent.”

Posey is one of nine Giants who earned three World Series rings, but unsurprisingly, he still stands out from a crowd that includes franchise legends such as Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner.

“It’s one thing to be tied to three championships, but he was one of the best players on all three of those teams,” Crawford said. “I think that says even more about him. He was a huge cause for those championships. Nothing against a corner outfielder or reliever, it’s not like he had a minor part; he was the catcher and the one calling pitches.”

Posey spent the first half of his career creating a lifetime of memories for the Giants fan base but devoted the second half to a far greater calling.

In 2016, Buster and Kristen Posey announced they were focusing their philanthropic e orts to join the fight against pediatric cancer. With the help of Dr. Mignon Loh, the former UCSF division chief of pediatric hematology and oncology, the Poseys began the process of raising millions of dollars for research that often funded early-phase clinical trials that wouldn’t have launched without their financial support.

“They’re both incredibly bright, very well informed and very inquisitive,” Loh said. “Buster and Kristen came to our hospital as well as other hospitals to visit with the children, interact with the families and every now and then, he’d get questions from parents and ask me to talk with them.”

The Poseys held an annual fundraising gala at Oracle Park, visited with pediatric cancer patients at hospitals around the Bay Area and beyond and regularly met with Loh to learn about research initiatives and determine how to target their donations.

“A generation of kids who have been diagnosed with cancer have greatly benefited from their e orts,” Loh said. “I know that, and I will always be grateful. The whole sta at UCSF will always be grateful to them because of their dedication to this community.”

The e orts left a lasting impression on patients and their families but also on teammates who attended the annual galas and spent time around Posey in the Giants clubhouse.

Posey made an impact on Joey Bart, his heir apparent at the catcher position.

“You would learn the stories and conversations he had (with patients) and how strong they were — it’s really cool and very humbling,” Bart said. “The pain these kids go through, the adversity they face, for him to keep all of that in mind and play at an incredible level in the big leagues for so long, it speaks to him and the people around him.”

Like his fellow Georgia native, Bart became a Giants first-round draft pick whose status as a top prospect has created immense hype. Posey’s decision to opt out in 2020 forced Bart to the big leagues ahead of schedule, but after spending nearly all of last season in the minors, he’s the player now ticketed for the starting catcher job.

Fortunately for Bart, his teammates are realistic in their expectations.

“Nobody can just step in and replace Buster Posey right away,” Crawford said. “I don’t think that even needs to be said. I think we have Joey, who is a top prospect for a reason, and hopefully, he can come in and learn at the big league level and try to fill the shoes the best he can.”

As Bart prepares for his opportunity, he’s well aware of the legacy Posey leaves behind and expresses gratitude for the time he spent tutoring a young player eager to learn.

“I was anxious when I got drafted by the Giants, and the first thing I thought of was, like, ‘Wow, maybe I’ll get to go to big league camp and hang around (Posey) and watch what he does.’” Bart said. “The expectation I had, it always stayed the same. The way I saw him carry himself, watching him play and the way he acted on the field, o the field, he was always such a pro.”

While his decision to walk away was relatively sudden, the reality is no amount of warning could prepare the Giants for a future without Posey.

Zaidi jokingly asked Posey if his choice was “a sure thing.” Pence said Posey has been a “face of baseball,” and one of his former managers, Bruce Bochy, spent the minutes after Posey’s retirement news conference vouching for his Hall of Fame candidacy.

As the Giants push forward into the future without Posey, the legendary catcher finds himself in a class of Bay Area athletes marked by the most exclusive company.

“You look at the 49ers in the 80s, you think Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, because those were the best players,” said Crawford, a Bay Area native who grew up in Pleasanton.

“Obviously, with the Warriors, it’s Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green), because they were the best while they were winning championships. And you look at the Giants’ three titles, Buster was one of, if not the best player on the team during all three of those years.”

The Giants existed long before Posey played in San Francisco and will exist long after his exit, too. Through an unrivaled career with the franchise, Posey ensured it’ll never look the same without him.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF ARCHIVES