Bruce Bochy

Every Giants fan I know has a Bochy impression. The slow walk out of the dugout, the hands tucked in the back pockets, the gravel in the voice when he'd tell a reporter the kid was gonna be fine. For thirteen years that walk to the mound was the most reassuring thing in San Francisco, and in October it was practically a cheat code.

He was born April 16, 1955, in Bussac Foret, France, where his dad Gus was stationed as a sergeant major in the U.S. Army. The family bounced around, the Panama Canal Zone, South Carolina, Virginia, before landing in Melbourne, Florida. He played at Brevard Community College, where he met his wife Kim, and the Astros took him in the first round in 1975.

As a player he was a backup catcher and he'd be the first to tell you so. He debuted with Houston on July 19, 1978, played one year with the Mets, then five with the Padres, 358 games in all with a .239 average and 26 homers. He was on the field for some wild stuff, though. Pete Rose ran him over at the plate in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the 1980 NLCS. He was a Padre for the 1984 pennant and got into a World Series game against Detroit. And on July 1, 1985, he hit a walk off homer off Nolan Ryan in the 10th to beat Houston 6 to 5.

Managing turned out to be the real calling. He started with Spokane in 1989, won a California League title with High Desert in 1991 and a Texas League title with Wichita in 1992, coached third base for San Diego, and in 1995, at 39, became the youngest manager in the National League. In 1996 he won NL Manager of the Year. In 1998 his Padres won 98 games and the pennant before the Yankees swept them. Twelve years, four division titles, 951 wins. Then Sandy Alderson wanted somebody younger, let Brian Sabean talk to him, and on October 27, 2006 he became the Giants' manager. I'll never understand it. I'm glad they did it.

The start was rough. He got Barry Bonds' last season and the 756th home run, then 90 plus losses in 2007 and 2008. But the kids were coming. Lincecum, Cain, Sandoval, Wilson, then Posey and Bumgarner, and by 2009 the Giants won 88 games with the second lowest ERA in the majors.

In 2010 it all broke right. They caught San Diego on the last day of the season, his old team of all teams, and then he pushed every button in October. He beat the Braves, he beat Halladay's Phillies, and he called the club a bunch of castoffs and misfits in the visitors' clubhouse in Philadelphia. Then they beat Texas in five and San Francisco had its first World Series title. The franchise's first since 1954. I still don't think I've fully processed that one.

2012 was the crazy one. Down 2 to 0 to the Reds in a best of five with the last three in Cincinnati, and they won all three. Down 3 to 1 to the Cardinals, and they won three straight, outscoring St. Louis 20 to 1 in those games. Then they swept Detroit. Bochy's own tagline for that club was never say die, and honestly, what else would you call it?

Then 2014, the second wild card, 88 wins, nobody's favorite. They won the Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh, beat the Nationals, beat the Cardinals again, and won Game 7 in Kansas City with Madison Bumgarner throwing five scoreless innings on two days' rest. Three titles in five years. He was the tenth manager ever to win three, and the first nine were all in Cooperstown.

The run ended in 2016. They won the Wild Card Game at Citi Field, their 11th straight postseason series win, and then lost the NLDS to the Cubs when the bullpen gave up four in the ninth of Game 4. The next three years were lean, 64 wins in 2017, his health was a story, stents in 2015 and heart procedures after that, and on February 18, 2019 he announced 2019 would be his last year. He got his 2,000th win at Fenway that September, and on September 29, 2019, after a 9 to 0 loss to the Dodgers, nearly 50 former Giants walked out of the center field gate to send him off. He finished his Giants run 1,052 and 1,054, plus 36 and 17 in the postseason, with more wins than any manager in San Francisco history.

He didn't stay retired. He managed France's national team, and in October 2022 Chris Young talked him into taking over the Rangers. In his first year in Texas they won the 2023 World Series, the franchise's first, which made him one of only three managers ever to win it in both leagues. Two more seasons followed, 78 wins and then 81, and on September 29, 2025, he and the Rangers agreed he wouldn't be back for 2026. He left with 2,252 wins, sixth most in history, and four rings.

Six weeks later he came home. On November 10, 2025 the Giants brought him back as a special advisor to baseball operations, working for Buster Posey, the catcher who played for him in 11 of his 12 seasons, and alongside Dusty Baker as a sounding board for new manager Tony Vitello. That's where he is this 2026 season, 71 years old, back in orange and black. I'll admit there have been nights this year I wanted him back in that dugout.

Managers don't get clutch hits, so you have to measure it differently. With Bochy you measure it in elimination games. In 2012 the Giants faced six of them and won all six, three in a row in Cincinnati and three straight against the Cardinals. You don't do that by accident. He kept the clubhouse loose, he kept his starters on schedule, and he never once looked like he believed the season was over.

His October bullpen work was the best I've ever watched. In Game 6 of the 2010 NLCS he pulled Jonathan Sanchez in the third inning, ran through Affeldt, Bumgarner, Lopez, and his ace Tim Lincecum two days after a start, then handed Brian Wilson five outs. In Game 7 of the 2014 World Series he yanked Tim Hudson in the second inning and gave the last five innings to Bumgarner on two days' rest. People second guess managers forever. Nobody second guesses those.

From the 2010 NLDS through the 2016 Wild Card Game his Giants won 11 straight postseason series. Eleven. That's the stat I bring up when somebody tells me it was just the pitching. His Giants teams went 36 and 17 in October, a .679 clip, and they swept a World Series and won another in seven on the road.

It wasn't perfect. Game 4 of the 2016 NLDS still hurts, Matt Moore dealing for eight innings, a three run lead, and five relievers who couldn't get three outs before the Cubs scored four. That was the first postseason series he ever lost with the Giants. And then he went to Texas and won a fourth ring anyway, because of course he did.