The year 2010 will go down in history as the one that broke many curses in San Francisco. After 52 years, the team finally won a World Series and now for the first time since 1975, the team has another MLB Rookie of the Year.
Monday, at exactly 11 a.m. Major League Baseball announced catcher Buster Posey was voted the league's top rookie.
"I guess you try to win another World Series, that's really all you can do," Posey said to KNBR when asked what he plans to do for an encore. "It's unbelievable."
But the new face of the franchise had a humble start just a year ago. In 2009, Posey got his start with the minor league Giants in San Jose. Many fans say they remember the catcher they knew they wouldn't see stick around for long.
They say he also helped the San Jose Giants win the California League championship.
San Jose was where baseball fans first got to see the baby-faced catcher -- who arrived with so much promise -- and left a lasting impression in his short stay.
Jim Weyermann, the president of the San Jose Giants, remembers seeing Posey get hit in the head with a 92 mile-an-hour fastball. He says that same night he took a time out for the fans.
"He stopped by the parking lot with his wife, and stayed there for an hour and 45 minutes, and he signed every single ball and took lots of pictures," he said. "He understood very early on that he had a responsibility to the community, and that night, he validated it."
San Jose is where Buster Posey arrived.
Posey was gone in six months, climbing the proverbial minor league ladder to the big show in San Francisco. Then the kid, who left his mark in San Jose, began to leave his impression on the biggest stage of all.
It was a combination of Posey's work behind the plate and in the box that earned him the game's highest honor for rookies.
Posey was commended by national baseball pundits for his command of one of the league's most dominant pitching staffs in recent memory. His calm put him years ahead of where the league is used to seeing most rookies.
At the Giants Dugout Store inside Valley Fair Mall, Giants gear is what's going in people's stockings for the holidays.
The store says later this week, it will get new merchandise honoring Posey's achievement
Some say this is only the first of many awards for Posey.
