Texas Rangers' Bruce Bochy watches from the dugout during a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. The Reds won 7-6. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)
SAN FRANCISCO — There isn’t much question how Bruce Bochy will be received by Giants fans when he makes his first return to Oracle Park as a manager next week.
“He’s a hero. He’s loved. He’s Bochy,” said longtime broadcaster Marty Lurie. “He’s going to be a Hall of Famer and is a World Series champion. And the fan base still loves him.”
Bochy, 68, spent 13 seasons as the Giants manager, winning 1,052 games and three World Series.
This is Bochy’s second trip to the Bay Area this season, but the first time facing the Giants since he and the team parted ways after the 2019 season.
In May, he brought his new team, the Texas Rangers, to Oakland for a four-game series. They are back in Oakland for a three-game series that starts Monday. On Friday, they open a three-game series in San Francisco.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford has caught glimpses of Bochy in the Rangers’ colors, either on TV or when the team played in spring training. But for the first time in his 13-year career, Crawford will see Bochy managing from the visiting dugout at Oracle Park.
Crawford is one of five current Giants who played under Bochy.
Bochy has dealt with heart issues in previous years but said health and medical concerns did not play a role in his decision to leave the Giants, saying at the time, “it’s a gut feeling that it’s time.” Crawford wasn’t surprised that Bochy returned to managing after his two-year retirement breather.
“I kinda thought he’d want to come back and keep doing this as long as he can,” Crawford said.
And he’s similarly unsurprised that Bochy has the Rangers in first place, likely to end a playoff drought that dates to 2016.
The Rangers are loaded with veteran stars such as Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and, after a major trade deadline deal, Max Scherzer blended with budding players such as Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim. Those who spent time around the Giants during their three World Series title years know how Bochy enriches contending teams with the right kind of confidence to make a run.
“He lets guys play,” Lurie said. “They just look like a team that they know they can win, and that’s what he brings to the table. When he looks out there and they look at him they know he’s a champion and it helps their game and lets them play like this. I think that’s the bottom line for me. He lets them play in a practical sense.”
Austin Slater, Logan Webb, Mike Yastrzemski, Tyler Rogers are the other Giants who played under Bochy. Slater mostly came off the bench during his three years with Bochy, a time that prepared him for his primary role as a platoon option against left-handed pitchers.
“I learned how to always be prepared and ready to pinch hit at any time,” Slater said. “There were also the old National League rules, so it was different from a management perspective. But it taught me how to be prepared at any time to go up and pinch hit.”
Slater and Crawford recall how Bochy’s hands-off, lead-by-example management style instilled confidence. But mostly how his confidence in his team made them always believe they could win. And they expect a loud ovation when Bochy arrives at Oracle Park on Friday night.
“I think fans will appreciate everything he’s done and hopefully it’ll be a time that they can show him a little love and support for what he’s done here,” Slater said. “It’ll be weird, but it won’t change the approach we have as a team against them.”
“It’ll be good to have him back here,” Crawford said.
Originally published at Shayna Rubin