In the 2010s, it's hard to argue that any member of the San Francisco Giants was as instrumental to the success of the franchise as Buster Posey. He was the Rookie of the Year when they became World Series champs in 2010. He was MVP in their 2012 season that ended in the same result. He was selected for the All-Star Game that year and six other times, culminating in a 2021 finale in which he had one of his finest seasons ever.
But while we can talk about his on-field accomplishments all day, a different perspective on Posey's importance to the team came in the form of a Gabe Kapler story on "The Chris Rose Rotation," and it helps to paint a fuller picture of what the backstop meant to the Giants. Listen to the full podcast below or here on Audacy.
"I think what I'll miss is how he makes everybody feel a part of the success," Kapler said. "It was evident in his presser where he just distributed so much credit, and Dave Groeschner, who's our head athletic trainer, came into my office a little bit earlier today at the ballpark. He's kind of tearing up, you know, pretty emotional. Because Buster made everybody feel like they were part of his career.
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"Farhan (Zaidi) said something that I thought was really profound: Buster made Farhan feel like he was a Giant. And I think every player and every staff member and every member of our front office — probably everybody that has spent time with Buster in San Francisco — has a story like that.
"I have it, too. I interviewed with Buster when I got the job in San Francisco. I mean, here I am in this office sitting across from Buster Posey, who's going to be one of the players on our roster, and he's kind of vetting me. He's kind of sizing me up and, you know, we knew about each other but didn't know each other well. And I felt, when I walked out of that room, like Buster believed in me."
Though Kapler only had one year with Posey — the skipper debuted in San Francisco in the 2020 season, when Posey took a year off to due health concerns for his newly adopted daughters amid the COVID-19 pandemic — he could obviously feel the potential Hall of Fame catcher's presence. After all, by going 29-31 during the shortened season without Posey followed by a whopping 107-55 record upon Posey's return, it doesn't take a baseball whiz to see the impact.
"Here's the president of baseball operations, here's the manager, here's the head athletic trainer," Kapler said, "all feeling like Buster Posey put the wind at our backs."
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