Few people are fortunate enough to make their childhood dreams a reality, especially when a dream might be considered so far-fetched that achieving it is, at the very least, one in a million.
Such as becoming a major-league baseball player.
And playing for your hometown team.
And winning a couple of World Series championships along the way.
As far back as kindergarten, when playing T-ball in Menlo Park, Brandon Crawford started to dream all of this, and it all came true.
“It’s obviously very special for me,” Crawford said in a phone interview with The Standard. “Being the starting shortstop for the Giants is something I wanted to do as a little kid. It was my dream, and I was able to do that for 13 seasons.”
Countless other kids had similar dreams, of course, but these things don’t just happen. Too much needs to align, starting with exceptional talent. And passion. And drive. And support. And opportunity. And maybe some luck — after all, the Giants needed to select Crawford in the 2008 draft, which they did in the fourth round.
And now, 17 years after the draft and more than three decades after young Brandon first dreamed of being a big-leaguer, it’s becoming a full-circle story. The Giants will honor Crawford, 38, before Saturday’s game at Oracle Park, a special tribute to the most decorated shortstop in franchise history, the local boy who made good.
Crawford’s family, friends and several of his old teammates will be on hand, including the new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, plus former Giants manager Bruce Bochy, whose Rangers are in town this weekend. It was no coincidence that Crawford supported this particular date, to assure Bochy would participate in the festivities.
First pitch on Saturday is 1:05 p.m., and the Giants are encouraging fans to be in their seats at Oracle Park by 12:20 pm. to take in the pregame ceremony.
As the story goes, Crawford was 6 years old when the team mom on his T-ball team asked the kids to write thank-you notes to their coaches. Brandon took it a step further and noted that he wanted to be a major-league baseball player.
That was shortly before the family moved from Menlo Park to Pleasanton. By the time he was 8, his Little League team was named the Giants. His father, Mike, coached the squad and started his son at shortstop, where Brandon naturally excelled. By then, the dream became more specific. He wanted to play for the real Giants. As the real shortstop.
This was the mid-1990s, and Brandon would throw a ball against a backyard wall or Pitchback and create a game in which he envisioned being one of the Giants at the time, including his favorite, Royce Clayton; of course the shortstop. Crawford went on to become a star athlete at Pleasanton’s Foothill High School (doubling as the quarterback on the football team) and UCLA. Within three years of being selected in the draft, he was in the majors and hit a grand slam in his first game for the hometown team.
As a two-time World Series champion, three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover — not to mention a Silver Slugger award winner and fourth-place finisher in the 2021 National League MVP voting — Crawford is an inspiration for any kid with huge goals and high hopes.
“If you don’t have those big dreams as a kid, you’re probably not going to work as hard at it and probably not going to accomplish those things,” he said. “So you might as well dream big and go for it. I hope my story helps kids think that way.”
Crawford never wavered from his dream and doesn’t remember any friend or teacher or family member casting doubts on his quest or telling him to focus on a more practical future.
“There were probably friends throughout the years where it was like, ‘Really? You’re going to go practice baseball again instead of hang out with us?’” Crawford said. “Friday nights in high school are kind of a big night, and every Friday night I would go hit in the cages with the hitting coach, except for football season.
“Sacrificing those times to go hit, some friends probably didn’t think it was a realistic thing for me. I know it was a big dream. I know the percentages of kids who play baseball at a young age and don’t end up making it. Obviously being able to do it, having it happen with the Giants, makes it even crazier and more special.”
Looking back, Crawford calls his father “my biggest ally and biggest critic at the same time. He made me believe in it the most but also pushed me the most. Which is probably why I was able to accomplish my goals and get to the big leagues. It was, ‘You could always be a little bit better, continue to work hard and continue to believe.’”
For the first time since T-ball, Crawford isn’t playing baseball. He announced his retirement in November, following his final season in St. Louis, and nowadays he’s focused on being a husband and father to five kids, ages 1 ½ to 12.
He did coach his 9-year-old son in flag football and imagines one day returning to baseball in some capacity, but nothing is planned. Too many family chores and duties on his immediate horizon.
“In some ways, it’s busier than it was during baseball season,” Crawford said.
Saturday will provide a break but plenty of emotions and maybe a few tears as fans gather to celebrate Crawford’s career and accolades.
The list is long. In the Giants’ West Coast history, he’s top five in several categories: third in triples (44) and sacrifice flies (62), fifth in doubles (290) and RBIs (744), and the all-time franchise leader in games played at shortstop (1,569).
When the only names above you are Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Barry Bonds and Posey, you’re in elite company. Especially for someone known more for his defense than his bat. And on that note, only Mays ranks higher in defensive wins above replacement.
Crawford’s best memories are the World Series titles, of course. He ranks two grand slams as his top offensive moments, one hit in his debut in Milwaukee and another that silenced the Pittsburgh crowd at the 2014 wild-card game that sunk the Pirates.
A full-length documentary would be required to capture all the defensive highlights, but Crawford cited two of his favorites, both coming late in his career.
In a key moment during the 2021 Division Series opener against the Dodgers, Crawford ran across the bag gloving Tommy La Stella’s backhanded flip and quickly threw to first to double off Justin Turner, causing the Oracle Park crowd to erupt.
Brandon Crawford and Tommy La Stella break down their insane double play pic.twitter.com/S1K3lHMqOf
— KNBR (@KNBR) October 9, 2021
Then there was a play in 2022 at Denver that Crawford cherishes for the degree of difficulty. He dived to his backhand deep in the hole to glove a top-spin chopper, spun his body, which was parallel to the ground, and made a quick and accurate sidearmed throw to force Ryan McMahon at second.
Plenty more highlights undoubtedly will be shown Saturday including the double play he turned in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series following a splendid glove flip from Joe Panik. It’ll be the first time fans see Crawford at Oracle Park since his final game as a Giant in 2023.
Crawford was hoping to return to the Giants in 2024 and help mentor young players, but then-president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi decided against it, first proclaiming Marco Luciano would be the successor (that didn’t work) and settling on Nick Ahmed (that didn’t work, either). Crawford went to St. Louis and tutored young shortstop Masyn Winn.
“My last game with the Giants was special with the fans’ ovation and the love that I felt from them,” Crawford said, “but it was a little awkward for me considering I had never said I was done playing. That I was never coming back wasn’t directly told to me, so maybe that made it a little bit awkward, too.
“I think now that I’m definitely done and have retired, to be able to go back and have this moment with the fans and front office and some of the guys I played with and Boch, all the people who meant so much throughout my career, it’ll make it even more meaningful.”
The best shortstop in Giants history has come full circle, and he’s still living the dream.