Giants players say they'll miss retiring Bruce Bochy

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - Bruce Bochy is set to become the fifth person in MLB history to manage 25 consecutive major league seasons as he enters his final year.

The others are Hall of Famers Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony LaRussa and Sparky Anderson.

“It’ll be 25 consecutive years without a break, I think that’s what I appreciate,” catcher Buster Posey said Tuesday. “Just the relatively short amount of time I’ve spent in the big leagues or in baseball compared to him, you understand just the grind and the toll of a professional season.”

A day after Bochy offered an emotional address to Giants players revealing the 2019 season will be his last as the team’s manager, the Giants expressed awe for what he has accomplished in a storied career.

“When I got drafted in my first spring training, he was the manager,” second baseman Joe Panik said. “When I got called up in 2014, he was the guy who led us to the World Series. He’s the one who gave me a shot in the lineup in 2014 and he’s believed in me all the way through.”

Bochy left San Diego for San Francisco in 2006 after a 12-year run with the Padres. His tenure included three World Series titles, but it also bridged the gap from one Giants era to the next.

In his first year in San Francisco, Bochy managed Barry Bonds. In his third season, he was the manager who met Madison Bumgarner and Posey when they received their first call to the big leagues.

“This will be my 10th year with him and I just want to soak it up and appreciate who he is to the game of baseball,” Posey said. “Enjoy this last year and make sure that not that you need any extra motivation, but if you do, it’s pretty easy to look to him and get some more.”

Posey said he doesn’t believe anyone else will join the quintet of managers to work 25 consecutive years at the sport’s highest level. Neither does Panik.

“It’s hard to imagine somebody 25 straight years like that,” Panik said. “I think it just goes to show how brilliant of a baseball mind he is, it’s a testament to him. To be in the National League, that too. Having to work the ins and outs of double switches, pitching matchups, not just throwing out a DH, he’s had to manage and he’s one of the best, if not the best.”

Bochy is the longest-tenured manager in baseball and a lock for the Hall of Fame. He’s also the type of manager Giants veterans see less of and want more of, in part thanks to the way the game has changed.

As front offices prioritize the ability to control on-field decision-making and implement analytics, there’s less of a place for managers who rely on their experience and personal connections with players to guide their moves.

“I don’t know if you’d say a ‘dying breed,’ but he’s always so stoic,” Posey said. “He’s like the ?old-school John Wayne tough guy. I think that’s a positive and I think sometimes it’s good to have that personality.”