We may never see another quite like Buster Posey.
The three-time World Champion catcher is set to announce his retirement on Thursday afternoon, concluding a Hall of Fame career that spanned 12 illustrious seasons.
Broadcaster Mike Krukow was there for all of them, and still remembers being blown away by the effect the 23-year old Posey had on a clubhouse full of veterans in 2010.
“I never saw a rookie walk into a clubhouse like he did in 2010,” Krukow said on KNBR Thursday. “In 2010 he brought presence into that clubhouse. And this is a thing I’ve never seen before with a rookie. And we knew what we were dealing with very early on. The players in that clubhouse knew it. They knew this guy was special. And you saw it when he walked in in 2010, were the veterans who wanted to impress this guy to get his personal endorsement that they were good baseball players.
“That’s something you never see, but he had it. He had that ‘it factor’ from the moment he walked into that clubhouse.”
There was a reason for that. Posey made an impact immediately, winning the NL Rookie of the Year award and leading the Giants to their first World Series title in San Francisco. It was clear to everyone from the moment he walked in, that Posey was different.
“He had a nice minor league career…So he brought some cred with him when he walked into that clubhouse, but everybody had known his game in spring training, everybody knew what this guy was all about very early on. They knew very early on that he was special. But the fact that these veterans wanted his approval, and it was something that wasn’t talked about, they just wanted his acceptance. They knew he was going to be special, and he did not disappoint.”
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Listen to the full interview below.
