San Francisco Giants Bring Back World Series Stars for 10 Year Celebration
The San Francisco Giants celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the 2014 World Series on Saturday.
2024 marks 10 years since the San Francisco Giants last won a World Series, so the team had a reunion with former players to celebrate the anniversary. The Giants have brought back players recently, inviting the Core Four relievers back to be put on the Wall of Fame. Saturday’s event was much larger, with other 30 invitees making an appearance.
The festivities needed maybe the two most important figures from that team’s success: manager Bruce Bochy and World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. Of course, with Bochy currently managing the defending World Champion Texas Rangers, he couldn’t be there, but he sent a message.
“When I think about this group, I think about the unselfishness with which they played. They didn’t care about having it their way, they just wanted to find a way to get it done. I think about the resolve, the resilience the indominable spirit that they played with,” Bochy began.
Bochy managed the Giants from 2007 until 2019, where he saw many iterations of the Giants. From Barry Bonds’ last season, to the mediocre teams that saw Tim Lincecum win two Cy Young Awards, to leading the team to three championships, the veteran manager saw a lot. He left San Francisco with the second most wins as a manager in franchise history behind John McGraw.
He went on to describe the entirety of the postseason run, series by series, thanking every player for their standout performances. He mentioned the likes of Brandon Crawford for his Wild Card Game grandslam, and Travis Ishikawa for his NLCS walkoff homer. Then, he got to Bumgarner.
“Of course MadBum, coming out of the bullpen to silence the crowd,” he said.
Everyone remembers the postseason run Bumgarner had, especially his performance throughout the World Series. Widely considered the greatest playoff performance ever, Bumgarner’s 2014 postseason saw him pitch 52.2 innings allowing just six runs and striking out 45 batters. He had two complete games and in 21 World Series innings allowed just one run.
Bumgarner was introduced to a standing ovation as he carried the World Series trophy to the middle of the field. A trophy that he put his team on his back to earn. The last player to be brought onto the field, he palced the trophy in between the two others that he helped to win.
“Man, honestly, I haven’t yet, really,” he began answering a question from Mike Krukow before being interrupted by a roar of cheers from the crows and a hug from mascot Lou Seal. “Thank you guys. I appreciate that. That never gets old.”
Needless to say, the man of the hour didn’t get a whole lot of time to talk on the field. After a first pitch to Buster Posey, though, he spent time in the booth where he was able to express his appreciation for the fans.
“I can’t describe how good these fans have been to me. You can’t put words on it, you know, they don’t measure up. This place is unreal,” he said on the broadcast.
While Bumgarner didn’t get a chance to speak, former outfielder Hunter Pence sure did. As he has done in that past, he was able to get the crowd to repeat his famous “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chant from postseasons past.
While all the stars from that team were in attendance, there were also some unsung, lesser known names in the building. Players like Gary Brown, who only got seven plate appearance that season. Others like Gregor Blanco, Jean Machi and Michael Morse, who are lesser known, but played a big role, got their shine as well.
Needless to say, it was an afternoon of celebration at Oracle Park.
