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Catcher Buster Posey had an outstanding individual career and led his team win three World Series championships. A Rookie of the Year, batting champion, and MVP, Posey’s baseball accomplishments put him in the Cooperstown conversation.

A 50th-round pick in the 2005 draft out of high school, Posey opted to further develop his tools in college. The decision paid off. By 2008 his skills were so refined that the Giants made him the 5th-overall choice in the draft.

A September call-up the next year, Posey made his big league debut with 7 late-season games. The following season in 2010 he hit .305 with a .505 slugging percentage. The performance earned him the Rookie of the Year Award for the division-champion Giants.

After ousting the Braves and the Phillies in the playoffs, the Giants faced the Texas Rangers in the Fall Classic. Posey hit .300 with a Game 4 homer as the Giants took home their first title since moving from New York in 1958.

The following season was a tough one for Posey. On May 25, 2011 he suffered a fractured fibula and tore multiple ligaments in a home plate collision with Florida’s Scott Cousins. The injury sidelined him the rest of the season.

Once he regained his health, Posey returned to form in 2012. The backstop earned his first All Star selection and Silver Slugger Award. Posey led the league with a .336 average and a 7.4 WAR. That, along with 24 homers, 103 RBI, a .408 on-base percentage and a .549 slugging mark help earn him both the Comeback Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. Behind Posey, the Giants won their second championship in three years, downing the Tigers in the World Series.

An All Star again in 2013, Posey posted a 5.3 WAR and once more received votes in the MVP race.

Before the start of 2014, MLB instituted the so-called “Buster Posey Rule”. It outlaws violent home plate collisions that produce the kind of horrific injury Posey suffered three years earlier. Listed as rule 7.13 in the official rulebook, it was formally implemented on February 24, 2014. The new dictum prevents catchers from blocking the plate and disallows runners from bowling them over.

Following their pattern of even-year magic, San Francisco again reached the postseason in 2014. Posey earned his second Silver Slugger and finished 6th in MVP balloting. The Giants won it all, taking home their third World Series victory in five seasons.

From his MVP season in 2012 through the 2017 season, Posey averaged 5.5 WAR per year. In 2018, Posey earned his sixth All Star selection in seven years. The next season it appeared as if time caught up with the catcher. Posey hit just .257 and was below league-average in OPS+ for the first time since his 7-game cup of coffee in 2009.

The coronavirus turned the baseball world upside down in spring training of 2020, postponing the season until the end of July. Early in the same month, Posey and his wife adopted identical infants. Because they were born prematurely, the twins were at greater risk of health complications if they contracted the virus.

When the season resumed, Posey had a decision to make. After consulting with doctors, Posey and his wife decided that it was best to opt out of the virus-riddled baseball season.

When the 2021 season got underway, many questioned how Posey would perform. After the subpar 2019 campaign and sitting out 2020, Posey himself didn’t know what to expect.

Now 34 years old, Posey silenced his doubters, earning his 7th All Star selection and his 5th Silver Slugger. With a slash line of .304/.390/.499, along with his 140 OPS+, Posey became the first two-time Comeback Player of the Year in National League history.

Following the season, Posey shocked the baseball world by announcing his retirement. Citing the desire to spend more time with his family as well as the physical toll the game had taken on his body, Posey left the game.

He retired with 1,500 hits, a .302 batting average, and a 129 OPS+. Though his counting numbers fall well short of the generally-accepted Cooperstown benchmarks, analytics help his cause. Among catchers, his 44.8 WAR total puts him 16th all time, ahead of Hall of Famers Roger Bresnahan (42.1), Roy Campanella (42.0), Ernie Lombardi (37.7), and others.

It also puts him in a cluster of catchers outside of Cooperstown. Wally Schang (48.0), Gene Tenace (46.8), Thurman Munson (46.1), Posey (44.8), Bill Freehan (44.8), and Jorge Posada (42.7) are tightly grouped together.

Posey’s accolades just might set him apart. The three-time World Series champ boasts the Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP, seven All Star nods, five Silver Sluggers, and two Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Shown here is the receipt Posey signed to receive his 2015 All Star Game ring.

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Pitcher Madison Bumgarner and catcher Buster Posey broke in together with the Giants three days apart in September, 2009. Soon they formed one of the league’s best battery duos.

During their 11 years together the pair saw great personal and team success. Bumgarner made four consecutive All Star teams starting in 2013. He finished in the top-9 in Cy Young balloting each of those seasons, highlighted by a pair of fourth-place finishes. Adept at bat, MadBum also earned two Silver Slugger Awards.

As Bumgarner’s teammate, Posey earned the 2010 Rookie of the Year Award, was the 2012 NL MVP, and gained selection to 6 All Star Games. He also earned 4 Silver Sluggers during their time together.

The pair won three Fall Classic titles with Bumgarner taking both the NLCS and World Series MVP in 2014.

On July 13, 2014 they also did something no other pitcher/catcher battery had ever done before.

In the bottom of the 5th in the Sunday afternoon contest Posey hit a grand slam to put the Giants ahead 4-1. Bumgarner hung a zero on the Diamondbacks in the top of the 6th to maintain the momentum. In the San Francisco half of the inning each of the first three Giants batters reached base to bring Bumgarner to the plate.

The right-hand hitting Bumgarner ambushed the first pitch and drove it over the left field fence. Posey and MadBum became the first pitcher-catcher combo to hit grand slams in the same game. With the universal designated hitter now in place, it’s likely no one will ever match their feat.

Shown here is a ticket to the June 28, 2008 contest between the Hickory Crawdads and the Augusta GreenJackets. Pitching in his first professional season, Bumgarner earned his 10th win against three losses for the Giants Single-A August club.

Facing a lineup of Braves farmhands that included future MLB All Stars Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman, Bumgarner sparkled. He scattered 5 hits in 7 scoreless innings and struck out 6.

The future Atlanta teammates each reached base vs MadBum. Heyward got hit by a Bumgarner pitch; Freeman hit a double. In Hickory’s 2-0 loss they combined to go 1-for-7 with two strikeouts.

Bumgarner’s autograph is across the front of the ticket.

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The three World Series championship clubs that Buster Posey led were managed by Bruce Bochy. On Buster Posey Day on May 7, 2022, Bochy had high praise for his catcher.

“You spend some time in a major league dugout and it doesn’t take you long to learn that a great team isn’t just about great players. It’s about great teammates, guys that come out to the park every day, ready to give it their all and ready to make those sacrifices to get it done. And I’ve been blessed to manage some incredible players and I can tell you none a better teammate than Buster here.

“If you want to look at the backbone of our three championships, look no further than #28 here.”

In the Giants first title since moving to San Francisco in 2010, Posey was the National League’s Rookie of the Year. Two years later in 2012 his batting crown and MVP season pushed the Giants to their second Fall Classic triumph in three years. The team’s third World Series victory came in 2014 when Posey earned the second of his three Silver Slugger Awards and finished 6th in MVP balloting.

Shown here is a lineup card from the Giants’ 2-1 walk-off victory over the rival Dodgers on May 1, 2019. Signed by Bochy at the bottom, it features Posey hitting in the cleanup position of the batting order.

The game was decided on Posey’s two-out RBI single to left in the bottom of the 9th inning. The contest marked the 7th and final walk-off hit of his career.