Gold Glove shortstop Brandon Crawford announces retirement after 14 major league seasons

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Brandon Crawford is retiring after 14 major league seasons, all but one of those played with his hometown San Francisco Giants as a slick-fielding shortstop and fan favorite.

A four-time Gold Glove winner and three-time All-Star, the veteran infielder announced his decision in an Instagram post Wednesday.

"During this time of the year, I am constantly being reminded of the things in my life that I am most thankful for. Baseball is one of them," Crawford wrote. "Baseball has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and for the rest of my life I will be thankful for the opportunities and experiences it has given me. Time is precious. I’m incredibly grateful for all the years I spent playing the game I love, but now it is time for me to spend it with the people who I’m most thankful for. Thank you to all of you who have been there for me throughout the years. It’s been an unbelievable ride."

A fourth-round draft pick in 2008 out of UCLA, Crawford made his debut on May 27, 2011, and won World Series championships with the Giants in 2012 and ’14 - the final two titles in their every-other-year run from 2010-14.

The Giants said they will honor Crawford’s career April 26 at Oracle Park. He was a career .249 hitter with 147 home runs and 748 RBIs, but his knack for making the key defensive play is what he will long be remembered for by many.

"It was an honor to get to know Brandon as a friend and as a teammate," new Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey said in a statement. "From the first day we were both drafted in 2008 to our final year playing together in 2021, it was an honor to play alongside him for 14 years. Whether it was the clutch moments like the grand slam he hit in the 2014 wild-card game in Pittsburgh, the franchise-record, seven-hit game he recorded in Miami, or the dazzling defensive plays and acrobatic throws he made over and over again, Brandon made his mark in a way few athletes ever do."

There was some thought Crawford might retire after the 2023 season when his contract expired in San Francisco, but he decided to give it one more year and joined the St. Louis Cardinals on a $2 million, one-year deal. He was released in August after hitting .169 with a homer and four RBIs over 80 plate appearances.

Crawford and wife Jalynne have five young children, and family will be Crawford’s primary focus going forward.

As a boy, Crawford leaned on the railing at Candlestick Park with his hat on backward supporting his beloved Giants - and eventually would star for them.

When he signed a two-year, $32 million contract in August 2021 while wrapping up a $75 million, six-year deal he had signed in November 2015, Crawford expressed his gratitude for playing in one place for so long.

"Being drafted by my hometown team and spending most of my career with them far surpassed any dream I had as a kid," Crawford wrote in Wednesday’s post. "I definitely pretended to win a World Series in my backyard - but winning two? That was beyond my wildest dreams.”

He is the Giants’ career leader in games played at shortstop with 1,617.

"Watching Brandon play was an absolute privilege for not only me but for Giants' fans everywhere,” President and CEO Larry Baer said.

“He was an All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, a two-time World Series champion, and a Lou Gehrig and Willie Mac Award winner, that always carried himself with class, honor and respect. The Giants have been incredibly blessed to have had Brandon as part of the franchise for 16 years - really for his entire 37 years, first as a young fan, who will ever forget that indelible photo of him leaning on the railing at Candlestick Park when there was a possibility that his Giants might leave San Francisco - and as this chapter closes on his career, his legacy in the game will be celebrated by fans, teammates, and future generations of players who look up to him by the example he set."