Captain Belt enters on boat, dons 'C' in epic Opening Day entrance originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
On the first day of the season, Brandon Belt made sure to remind everyone that he's still the (self-appointed) Captain of the Giants.
Belt wore a 'C' on his chest during pregame introductions as the Giants were introduced at Oracle Park for the first time in 2022 and then got on a boat that was driven onto the field so he could throw the ceremonial first pitch. Wearing a captain's hat, he finally got to (kind of) live out his lifelong dream of pitching off an MLB mound.
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The joke started last September in Chicago, when Belt told teammates on the flight that he was their captain and Evan Longoria responded by taping a 'C' on his jersey with electrical tape. Belt surprised everyone by actually wearing it out onto the field for the game against the Cubs.
"I just felt like in my heart I had been the captain all year, so I just told everybody to let me get off the plane first since I was the team captain," Belt said that day, keeping a straight face. "And they did. When people know that you're the guy, they don't say anything, they just do it."
With Buster Posey retired, Belt, who first made the Opening Day roster in 2011, is the longest-tenured Giant, edging Brandon Crawford by a few weeks. He took Posey's locker at Scottsdale Stadium this spring and said The Captain will be back for a second season. The Giants and Belt certainly kept it going before their first game of the year. The Giants will do it Saturday, too, handing out 20,000 captain's hats to fans.
