Crawford Announces MLB Retirement; Giants honor franchise icon

Crawford Announces MLB Retirement; Giants honor franchise icon originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Brandon Crawford spent 14 years to live out his childhood dream. On Wednesday, he announced that the journey is finally over.

In a post on his Instagram page, Crawford announced that he is retiring from professional baseball and “can’t wait for the new opportunities and different experiences that it will bring.” Crawford spent his final season with St. Louis Cardinals, but his first 13 years were spent with the Giants, his hometown team.

The best shortstop in franchise history was like home grown as it gets. Crawford was born in Mountain View and raised in the East Bay, the son of parents who had season tickets behind the plate at Candlestick Park. His first Halloween costume included a Giants giveaway bat, and he visited Scottsdale Stadium for spring training when he was in kindergarten and went every year thereafter.

The Giants took Crawford in the fourth round of a transformative 2008 MLB Draft, three rounds after they selected Buster Posey. Crawford ended up playing in 1,654 games for his hometown team, a franchise record for a shortstop. He hit 147 career homers and was worth nearly 30 Wins Above Replacement, won four Gold Glove Awards and made three All-Star teams. He was a key part of the 2012 and 2014 World Series titles.

In his post, Crawford said his years with the Giants “far exceeded any dream I had as a kid. I certainly pretended to win a World Series in my backyard — but to win two? It was beyond my wildest dreams.”

Crawford’s final game was Aug. 10 with the Cardinals, and while his final season didn’t go as hoped on the field, he said earlier this year that he appreciated the opportunity to have his kids spend one more summer in a ballpark. In his retirement post, Crawford thanked the Cardinals and noted that his youngest, Jazlyn, had a chance to see him play.

The Crawford family has five children, so he’ll be busy as a retiree, but it shouldn’t be long before he’s back in the orange and black. Posey is one of Crawford’s closest friends in the game and is now in charge, and the Giants have hoped Crawford would return to the organization in some role after his playing days are over.

“It was an honor to get to know Brandon as a friend and as a teammate,” Posey said in a statement released by the Giants. “From the first day we were both drafted in 2008 to our last year playing together in 2021, it was an honor to play with him for 14 years. Whether it was clutch moments like grand slams he hit in the 2014 Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh, the franchise-record seven-hit game he recorded in Miami, or the dazzling defensive plays and acrobatic throws he made time and time again, Brandon did his mark in a way that few athletes ever do.”

“I am extremely grateful for our friendship and wish him all the best in this next chapter of life.”

The Giants announced they will honor Crawford at Oracle Park on April 26.

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