We know, the photo above is tough to look at.
The greatest manager in San Francisco Giants history will be donning a new uniform in 2023, after Bruce Bochy decided to come out of retirement to manage the Texas Rangers.
On Friday, Bochy explained to Murph & Mac why he returned, after saying he had no plans of ever coming back.
“I’ll say this,” Bochy began on KNBR. “When I stepped down I really didn’t think I would get back into managing. And the following year is when we had the COVID year. I said, man I’m the smartest guy in the world, I picked the right time to step down instead of going through all of that.
“As time went and watching games, I started getting the itch. I never went out and called anybody. I said if it was the right fit I would listen. It so happens that Chris Young and I, we were together and had a relationship, he pitched for me when I was at San Diego. Nick Hundley’s there. Again, just listening to them, it just fueled the fire in me, and I just got excited about it.”
Bochy is 67-years-old and will be 68 when next season starts. He’s also had some heart issues over the past few years, most recently undergoing an ablation procedure to treat an atrial fibrillation.
But Boch says he’s feeling good, and after spending three years with his family, got everyone’s blessing to return to the dugout.
“I feel good. I had three wonderful years with the family. It’s not all that far from here. You’re right, Kim had a say in this. I’ll be honest, she was the toughest one to sell this on. Both my boys were all in on it, but we moved out here, she’s got the grandkids. But she also knows Chris and his wife, Liz, and so she was very comfortable with this after meeting with everybody. So we said let’s do it, let’s go, let’s start a new chapter.”
In fact, Boch credits one of the smallest members of his family for prompting the career restart.
“I got a grandson, he’s fired up. Braxton, he’s four and a half now and playing tee ball and coach pitch. I found this out when I was coaching tee ball: Managing the big leagues is easier. I blame this on Braxton, I said you drove me to this.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.