To the End He Knew What He Was Doing

He quit to spend more time with his family (Chron)

Perennial All-Star catcher Buster Posey is retiring. We have followed his career since he was called up briefly to the San Francisco Giants at the age of 22 in 2009.

In 2010 he was National League Rookie of the Year as he helped lead the Giants to their first World Series title since the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958. Long-time fans were incredulous and grateful, but the moment wasn't too big for Buster:

After the all-night celebration following the Giants' National League Series victory, veteran Aubrey Huff gave advice to rookie Buster Posey as they headed back to the room.

Huff: Don't think this happens every year, kid.

Posey: Why not?

Two World Series championships followed in 2012 and 2014, then the nearly inevitable injuries and aging-out of the championship roster. Only Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Buster Posey remained from the glory years.

Most unexpectedly, the Giants won the Western Division title in 2021 with a franchise record 107 victories. Though they lost to the Dodgers in the playoffs, the Giants' performance had fans dreaming of the club being in contention for years to come. Buster Posey's retirement makes those dreams unlikely, but no one's angry at him. He earned every penny of his 8-year $159 million contract and is going out on his own terms.

New Year, New Steph

In February the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, which was the last time this humble journal posted anything about the Bay Area teams. Though not even a year has elapsed, the months-long suspension and de-prioritization of all sports has made last year's pre-COVID Super Bowl seem like ancient history.

In the regular NFL season just ended, the 49ers were plagued by injuries to their biggest stars and finished with a record of 6-10, last in the NFC West.

Turning to baseball, the San Francisco Giants ended their schedule out of the playoffs with a 29-31 record. The Giants had only three players (Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt) remaining from their 2014 championship team and will need several rebuilding years to contend with the 2020 World Series Champion L.A. Dodgers, who are in the same division.

Damian Lee celebrates Steph's
performance (Chron photo)

The Golden State Warriors, after their June, 2019 defeat by the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, finished dead last in the 30-team NBA during the COVID-abbreviated 2019-2020 season, when they lost almost the entire team to trade, retirement, and injury. Future Hall-of-Famer Stephen Curry showed only flashes of his 2016-MVP form as teams focused all their defenses on him.

The new basketball season began dismally as All-Star Klay Thompson suffered a season-ending injury for the second year in a row. With only five games completed through Friday the Warriors were already declared by CBS Sports as "quite possibly, the worst team in the league right now."

With mutterings from the rest of the league that Steph Curry is not good enough to carry his team to the playoffs without other star players helping, Steph Curry put up 62 points last night as the Warriors beat the Trailblazers.

After 11 seasons in the NBA, two MVP awards, and three NBA championships, Stephen Curry at the age of 32 scored the most points in his storied career. The feat made him the second-oldest player (behind Kobe Bryant, 37) to score at least 60 points in an NBA game.

For one game Steph Curry reminded us of the joy that fans used to find in sports and gave us hope that a New Year will chase away the clouds of 2020.

An Exciting Winter

A few months ago we noted how Bay Area fans are lucky to have contending teams in all major professional sports. We're doubly lucky in that the teams have exciting young players whose talents have attracted national attention: Giants catcher Buster Posey, Warriors shooting guard Stephen Curry, and 49ers running quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

From seemingly nowhere (actually, the Czech Republic) now comes 19-year-old rookie forward Tomas Hertl to lead not only the undefeated San Jose Sharks but also the entire National Hockey League in scoring in the young season. But what got everyone talking was his four-goal night, the last being a spectacular between-the-legs shot that flummoxed the Rangers goalie.



It's going to be an exciting winter.

Posey:Giants = Kaepernick:49ers (?)

Buster Posey

In 2010, his second year in the major leagues, Buster Posey took over the starting catcher position from an experienced veteran in the middle of the season and led the San Francisco Giants to a World Series title. He made the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the toast of San Francisco.

In 2012, his second year in the NFL, Colin Kaepernick took over the starting quarterback position from an experienced veteran in the middle of the season and led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens.

Colin Kaepernick

 © 2013 Stephen Yuen
He made the cover of Sports Illustrated and was the toast of San Francisco.

Will the parallel play out all the way to a Super Bowl title?

Who knows...for some of us it will require extra effort to focus on work during the next two weeks.