SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants were losing to the Milwaukee Brewers at the end of the sixth inning 3-1 on May 27, 2011. The Brewers had an 89.2% chance of winning. While not impossible for the Giants to win, it was unlikely.
That is, until the Giants loaded the bases in the seventh inning with rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford at the plate. He hit the first pitch sent his way for a grand slam in the right-center field.
Crawford’s first major league career hit brought the Giants from a 3-1 deficit to a 5-3 lead. This ultimately won the game for the Giants 5-4.
This was the career start for the greatest shortstop in Giants history. Crawford played in 12 consecutive opening days and 13 seasons for the Giants. He played in 1,655 games as a Giant, ranking No. 5 in most games played in franchise history. From 2012 to 2019, Crawford played over 140 games per season.
Crawford also ranks No. 4 in extra base hits for the Giants since the franchise moved to San Francisco in 1958.
In every defense, Crawford played shortstop, except for the one scoreless inning on June 11, 2023, when he was the closing pitcher in the blowout 13-3 win over the Cubs.
His career batting average is .249, with his best seasons being 2021 and 2016 at .298 and .275 respectively.
Crawford played for the team during their 2012 and 2014 World Series wins. The Giants prevailed over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2014 wild card game when Crawford’s grand slam put the team on the board in an 8-0 shutout — pivotal for advancing through the playoffs to the World Series.
In an unexpectedly successful 2021 season, Crawford’s record of 90 RBI propelled the Giants to place No. 1 in the NL West and win 107 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 106.
On the Sept. 28 “Giants Talk” podcast episode for NBC Bay Area, Duane Kuiper told the hosts — Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic — that Crawford “checks all the boxes” of a “forever Giant” for his “steadiness in his athleticism” as shortstop.
But Crawford’s orange and black career ended on Oct. 1, 2023, starting for the Giants in their 5-2 loss against the Dodgers.
The Giants celebrated Crawford’s 13-year legacy on Fan Appreciation Day after that final game of the season. Many had the feeling that he would not return to the team the next year.
Crawford was on the injured list four times last season, playing in only 94 games. He only had seven home runs, 38 RBI, and 28 walks, and his batting average had fallen to .194.
Nevertheless, Crawford announced on Nov. 7 that he wanted to play baseball in the 2024 season.
At the beginning of spring training, the news finally came — Crawford would be a Giant no longer. The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Feb. 27 that they had signed Crawford to a one-year contract.
Instead of being the starter of his former glory, Crawford would be the team’s backup and provide a leadership role for the team.
In the MLB press release article on Feb. 27 covering the signing, Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak expressed his excitement about Crawford joining the team.
“We’re excited to be adding a player with the winning credentials and pedigree of a Brandon Crawford,” Mozeliak said. “He is someone that will provide us with valuable depth and experience on the infield, and can also be a great resource for our younger players, such as Masyn Winn.”
But why did Crawford not re-sign with the Giants?
In a March 1 article by Andrew Baggarly for The Athletic, Crawford explained that his first choice was to return to Giants, not wanting to end his career with an injury-riddled season. But Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ president of baseball operations, did not want to re-sign Crawford.
“The bottom line is I was not wanted back by the one person whose (opinion) matters,” Crawford said. “So I went with a team that gave me a major-league contract. The Cardinals have a long history and tradition. I’ve admired and respected the way the Cardinals have played throughout my career and the way the organization has been run.”
Due to his aging body, Crawford was not expecting to play every day but to mentor the young shortstop Marco Luciano in addition to Casey Schmitt, Tyler Fitzgerald and Thairo Estrada. Crawford wanted to be flexible, even playing positions other than shortstop.
But Zaidi chose not to keep Crawford because he wanted someone who could play in both the infield and outfield and could steal bases. Furthermore, Zaidi did not think that keeping Crawford on the team would be a good dynamic, even as a mentor with reduced playing time.
“The main thing we’ve discussed internally was the challenge of the fit because his status in the organization would actually make this supportive, mentorship role challenging for him, even with the best of intentions,” Zaidi told The Athletic. “I actually don’t question his intent or that he would do everything he could to mentor our young players and help bring them along. I just think we expect our younger players will have their ups and downs, as young players do, and having the greatest shortstop in franchise history on the bench … it was just going to create a dynamic where it was going to be harder for our young players to play with a margin of error.”
A March 17, 2022, article by Mark Kreidler for the San Francisco Examiner notes a shift under Zaidi from the era of the “forever Giants” to more short-term contracts instead.
“You love a guy? Enjoy that. Root hard. Just don’t get too attached,” Kreidler said.
There is a special fondness that comes from seeing Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt and more having a long tenure with the Giants. Not all these players retired with the Giants. But for those that did not, like Mays, the franchise still honors them as a forever Giants.
Crawford, a Bay Area native who grew up as a Giants fan, has over a decade of history playing for the franchise. Even in his “old age” as an athlete, Crawford wanted to stay on the team and use his experience as a mentor for the younger players.
But Zaidi would not honor that request, forcing Crawford to either retire or move out of the Bay Area to keep playing the ballgame.
Why couldn’t Zaidi let Crawford play at least one more season? Was it too much to let the Giants’ greatest shortstop stick around? Crawford was not asking to stay in the spotlight — just to keep playing in a capacity that made sense for his age.
The refusal to let Crawford re-sign may indeed be reflective of the bygone area of the forever Giants, and if it is, then the orange and black has lost an important part of its culture to the past.
