Bruce Bochy’s final speech as Giants manager traveled him through time.
He spoke of his childhood, of a boy who so badly wanted to make the major leagues. Of his rising to a job he never thought he would have. A job that would bring him World Series rings – three of them – and losses and heartache and triumph and emotion.
He saved his best words for Giants fans, though, before recalling Lou Gehrig.
“I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth,” Bochy said after his managerial career concluded Sunday at Oracle Park.
The speech was simultaneously heartfelt and remarkably efficient. He thanked everyone. The fans, the players, the coaches, the media, his wife, his family. Everyone.
“I never wanted to go out and wear out my welcome,” he said after Game 162 of a season and Game 4,032 of a career. “But now I’m afraid I’m wearing out my goodbye.”
He hasn’t. The whole season built up to those 15 minutes, with 41,909 fans on their feet, absorbing his every word.
“Without you, there’s no baseball,” he said. “There’s no business, no television, no talk radio, no chance to compete out here. When I think of those years that we didn’t come through for you, I apologize for disappointing you. But when I think of our championship years, I feel gratitude, because we did it together.”
In back of him were the Giants. Not just the 2019 coaches and players, but dozens of faces from the past. There might be only one person who can make Tim Lincecum appear.
“Fellas, you have taught me to look beyond impossible, to never say die, to never stop believing,” Bochy said, “and never, never give up on what you’re trying to accomplish.”
The Giants’ slogan has been, “Thank you, Boch!” He has said on numerous occasions fans would stop him and just give their gratitude in his final days in San Francisco.
So after quoting Gehrig, he had just a few words.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”