Thursday will truly be the end of an era.
Buster Posey is set to announce his retirement according to multiple reports, concluding a Hall of Fame caliber career that included an MVP, seven All-Star appearances and three World Championships.
That last accomplishment will likely prove as a tipping point for some HOF voters who believe Posey is on the cuff. Posey didn’t just win three titles, he caught every single game during the three playoffs runs, including 11 shutouts. Overall, his 14 postseason shutouts caught are the most by far in major league history (Yadier Molina is second all-time with 8) and account for over 24 percent of his playoff starts.
That’s probably why longtime teammate Matt Cain thinks Posey is the primary reason the Giants were able to win three World Series titles in five years.
“I mean he was really the heart of it,” Cain said on KNBR Wednesday afternoon. “He deserves almost all the credit for that because without him I don’t think we would have been able to work in sync with each other. He did a great job at being able to control all of us, to keep us in line and manage us in ways the coaches couldn’t do. He just let us be us, figured out our strengths and weaknesses and was going to exploit our strengths to the best of our abilities.”
Posey was also on the hill for Matt Cain’s perfect game on June 13, 2012, only the 23rd perfect game in major league history. Cain says Posey called every single pitch.
“He was the soul of it really. He called every pitch, I never shook him off, never doubted him. I look at pitches now and am like, wait a minute; we threw that pitch in this count with that scenario going on? But that was the trust that I had in him. And I know that instilled that in all the other guys.
“It was no other day. There was nothing different, nothing happened weird. He was just doing his thing, going about it and that’s what makes him special. He never got fazed by scenarios. All the no hitters that he’s had, the perfect game, the World Series, the big at-bats he’s had. He doesn’t get fazed by those situations. He almost thrives on them and that’s what makes him super special.”
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Listen to the full interview below.