We all know it’s just a matter of time before Buster Posey’s induction into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, but in the meantime, his alma mater, Florida State University, has deemed him worthy enough for their sports Hall of Fame. And why wouldn’t they? They gave him his own song.
Their press release and the accompanying video tweet say it all:
Buster Posey won every award he was eligible for in college baseball during his junior season at FSU, and has become one of Major League Baseball’s brightest stars as a catcher with the San Francisco Giants.
The has been named to the Florida State University Hall of Fame.
— FSU Baseball (@FSUBaseball) June 14, 2018
Congrats to the one and only, @busterposey. pic.twitter.com/8ABHDH6ERL
He hit 26 home runs in 2008 as a junior and was the Giants’ first round draft pick that June. A lot has happened in the decade since he left FSU, most of it overwhelmingly positive, historic, and of the once in a lifetime variety.
Even if FSU had only waited 5 years before inducting Posey (that’s the MLB Hall of Fame waiting period, after all), they’d still be a selecting a 2-time world champion, 2-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, batting champion, and MVP. Buster’s accomplishments are staggering. His acting might be better.
It’s been an odd week for Buster Posey. Along with FSU’s honor, he caught all 16 innings of the Giants’ only win against the Marlins in Miami, and the Giants officially announced that they had signed his future replacement, Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart.
And earlier Sunday, Hank Schulman relayed this quote from Bruce Bochy:
“He needs a break,” Bochy said. “We’ve been grinding him pretty hard. Sometimes one day off is not enough. He’s feeling the effects of that.”
We’re only halfway through June, so it feels a little uncomfortable when word gets out that older players are starting to feel the effects of a long season. Schulman added:
By resting Posey on Friday night and Sunday, Bochy showed he has no interest in making Posey an iron man, which is harder for a catcher to be in an era of 3-hour games and - to be honest - heightened drug testing.
... which feels like a shift in how Buster’s both being handled and covered. He’s not Superman, he’s Clark Kent — doing the work he can do under the limitations.
This was definitely a week where Buster Posey thought to himself, “Wait. How old am I?”
I keep getting mailers and emails from my college nagging me to attend my 15-year reunion. Let’s ignore the absurdity of attending college reunions for a moment and focus on what’s more important here: time passes very quickly once you hit a certain age.
Once I hit 31, the passage of time accelerated remarkably. I can still remember the days and years before, but they now feel like they passed in the same blurry energy as the past 6 years of my life have. Buster Posey is 31, by the way.
But that’s okay, because his accomplishments happened in the digital era. The Information Age. He wasn’t just a great catcher at Florida State, he was a great everything.
As Grant mentioned about the video tweet above:
This is a fun video, but it could use some clips of Posey as a closer. https://t.co/P7KsrInMs2 https://t.co/omKc5c8ebv
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) June 15, 2018
He’s making reference to this Very Important Theatre post from 2013, which includes the following .gif:
Grant named that image “Buster Posey Closey”. Also missing? The fantastic “Ain’t Havin’ It” .gif that set this site on fire back in 2010:
Here’s the video itself, since the only .gif I could find was the Benny Hill version:
Andrew Baggarly specifically asked Posey about the .gif/moment later in 2010 only for Posey to reveal that what he actually said was “I didn’t have it”, as in a grip on the ball. He’s so humble that he’ll take down his own legend!
It can never be said that Buster Posey has been underappreciated
... by the fans or the baseball world at large, at least; but at some point his career will feel like a blur, and that’s because existence is precious and the human brain is cruel. We’re gonna miss him when he’s gone.