Bruce Bochy managed 4,518 major league games over 28 seasons with the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. He understands the grind of a six-month season better than anyone.<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s eager to advise a manager who will be tackling that assignment for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting back to the Bay,\u201d Bochy, who is finalizing an agreement to return to the Giants in a special assistant role, said in a Wednesday phone interview. \u201cAnd of course, I\u2019m looking forward to getting back with the San Francisco Giants, seeing familiar faces and hopefully bring value any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bochy\u2019s experience will be more valuable than ever now that the Giants are embarking on an unprecedented path following the hiring of University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello<\/a>. It\u2019s the first time in more than a century that a major league team is hiring a manager straight off a college campus with no professional playing or coaching experience.<\/p>\n Vitello will have Bochy as a resource. He\u2019ll have special assistant Dusty Baker, too. Those aren\u2019t merely two experienced major league managers. They are among the most accomplished managers in history. There\u2019s a good chance that Bochy and Baker will be part of the same induction class in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 2027, when the next Eras Committee ballot cycle considers managers, umpires and executives from 1980 to the present.<\/p>\n One condition for enshrinement, of course, is that active managers are not eligible. This is where Bochy, who was replaced by Skip Schumaker after his three-year contract expired in Texas<\/a>, makes an acknowledgment: He\u2019s probably put the uniform on for the last time.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that\u2019s where I\u2019m at right now,\u201d Bochy said. \u201cI\u2019ll add you don\u2019t ever rule anything out. You don\u2019t, you know? But I\u2019m content with what I\u2019m doing now. I certainly appreciate getting another opportunity to win a championship and I\u2019m forever grateful for that. But I\u2019m in a good place now. This is what I want to do. I want more time for myself and family but also to contribute to a game that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n Bochy made his greatest contributions to the game in October while leading his teams to five pennants and four World Series titles \u2014 three in San Francisco from 2010-14 and then leading the Rangers to the franchise\u2019s first championship<\/a> in 2023. Beginning in 2010, Bochy rode the mother of all hot streaks while his teams, usually considered the underdog, dispatched 14 of 15 playoff opponents. Working with rosters that were far from flawless, Bochy demonstrated an uncanny ability to push the right buttons and put players in positions to succeed.<\/p>\n The Giants clinched the National League West on the final day of the regular season in 2010 before toppling the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Rangers. They won six elimination games while getting past the Cincinnati Reds (managed by Baker) and St. Louis Cardinals before sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the World Series 2012. Bochy put the Giants on Madison Bumgarner\u2019s back in 2014 when they won a wild-card game on the road against the Pittsburgh Pirates before carving through the Washington Nationals, Cardinals, and finally, the Kansas City Royals in a thrilling World Series that went the distance.<\/p>\n The Giants\u2019 bullpen let them down in 2016 when the Chicago Cubs won three of four to capture an NL Division Series on their way to a championship, and Bochy stepped down in San Francisco<\/a> after the 2019 season. But an opportunity to work with general manager Chris Young in Texas led to a breakthrough in 2023, when the Rangers dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and then pushed past the Arizona Diamondbacks to end a World Series title drought of more than 60 years when you count the franchise\u2019s beginnings as the Washington Senators.<\/p>\n