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Best moments from Giants Wall of Fame ceremony honoring five World Series heroes
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- Best moments from Giants Wall of Fame ceremony honoring five World Series heroes
Best moments from Giants Wall of Fame ceremony honoring five World Series heroes originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — For the five former Giants who went up on the organization's Wall of Fame on Saturday, some things will never change. They are all fathers now, and collectively they nearly have enough children to fill a baseball roster. There are some gray hairs, and on Saturday they exchanged gloves for sports coats. But get them together, and it's like it's 2014 all over again.
After going on the wall and taking part in a ceremony on the field, they sat down behind a podium in Oracle Park's interview room. Several answers made some reference to Brandon Belt 's love of sleep or goofiness off the field, and at one point he frowned.
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"What is this, a roast?" he asked.
That's what happens when Belt, Brandon Crawford , Joe Panik , Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval get in the same room. But they also combined for 11 World Series rings, and on Saturday, that run was celebrated. Here are some highlights from what will be one of the last ceremonies for the most successful group in San Francisco Giants history:
— Panik is a roving instructor in the organization now, and he loves it. He also looks like someone who will have a career in baseball for years to come if that's what he wants, and he did a nice job of summing up how the five approached games every night.
"I would say for the most part, what you saw on the field is what you get," Panik said. "Pablo was playing with energy. Belt was half asleep. Craw had the flare and just a calmness about him. Buster, he's just a natural leader.
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"(Players) have to be themselves. These guys, when they were out there, they could all be themselves, but the one common denominator was they're all competitive to the max. I think you can have different personalities and show them in different ways, and I think that's what they do."
— The loudest ovation of the pregame ceremony was for the man who led the five to titles: Bruce Bochy. But Mike Krukow wasn't far behind. Two days after he announced his retirement , Krukow got a standing ovation from the fans and all of the players and family members who flew into town.
"I know we're going to celebrate you later," Posey said. "But I just want to say thank you."
Krukow and Duane Kuiper hosted the on-field ceremony.
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"Mike gets to blow kisses to you guys, and I actually have to work," Kuiper cracked.
— At one point, Sandoval ran through his favorite moments from the other four. He noted the Crawford grand slam in Pittsburgh , Posey's slam in Cincinnati , Belt's 18th-inning homer and Panik's double play in Game 7 of the World Series.
You would think Sandoval's favorite moment is easy, right? He certainly would have gotten a reminder with the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander in the other dugout.
But Sandoval said his most memorable moment in the big leagues was actually squeezing the final out of Game 7 in 2014. He called that moment "a release."
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— Each of the five has at least two kids, and the large group gathered before the game to yell "play ball" prior to the first pitch.
"My kids, they couldn't care less about me going into the Wall of Fame," Belt said. "They were excited to see all their friends from when I played here, and that's really been the most fun for me to watch. Today and back in April, they were excited to get back on the field again, and most excited to see all their buddies from when I played here all those years ago. It's just been a lot of fun to watch."
— Three of the five won Gold Glove Awards in San Francisco. Kuiper made sure to point out that it should have been four, giving Belt a nod for his strong defense through all those successful seasons.
"I don't think we appreciated what you did defensively," he said. "You never won a Gold Glove, and you should have won a whole bunch."
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— Posey is now technically Panik's boss, and the others are starting to get more and more involved with the organization. Crawford did some draft prep earlier this summer, most notably when he went to scout No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky at UCLA. He was trying to keep it low key, but that was impossible to do at his former school. He hopes to be more involved down the line, which would be relatively simple since he lives in Scottsdale.
Sandoval has been in big league camp as an instructor, and Belt was scheduled to do it this spring before a scheduling issue. He joked that he's not all that familiar with Posey's work as an executive.
"I haven't seen a game in probably three years," he said. "That's why I asked him a ton of questions a little while ago in the dugout."
"How many games did you see when you played?" Posey replied, smiling.
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— The Giants celebrated Belt in April and will honor Jeff Kent later this month. Posey, Bochy and Dusty Baker all could go into the Hall of Fame next year, but there might be a bit of drought in terms of big days like this at the ballpark.
The next two up for the Wall of Fame should be Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner , and those are in the hands of the players. When those two are ready, the Giants will roll out the red carpet.
Belt said he'll fly back for anything related to Lincecum. Posey said he recently spent some time with the ace, who was the most popular player on those teams.
"I think the roof is going to come off whenever he does make his appearance back here," Posey said.
