Moments after Buster Posey, the star catcher who guided the San Francisco Giants through the team’s greatest era with three World Series titles, surprisingly announced his retirement on Thursday, one of his former bosses wanted to be sure.
“Is this a definite, like for sure thing?” Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ president of baseball operations, said while seated near Posey during a news conference at Oracle Park, the team’s stadium. “I just had to ask.”
Posey was indeed serious — even after enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and leading the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins and a National League West division title during the regular season. Despite those achievements, Posey, 34, felt it was time to walk away from playing.
“I want to be able to do more stuff from February to November with my family,” he said. “Physically it’s much harder now. And to be honest, it’s hard to enjoy it as much when there’s the physical pain that you’re dealing with on a daily basis.