KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Buster Posey and his wife, Kristen, sat at a table in a Midtown Manhattan hotel in January 2011 and chatted amiably, but quietly, with old-time New York Giants baseball fans.
Months before, the Giants had won their first World Series since moving to San Francisco and Posey had been named the National League’s rookie of the year. It was also the first time, perhaps, that Posey was compared to Derek Jeter, who also won a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series in the same season.
The comparisons grew two years later when Posey did what Jeter had done in his first full three seasons: He won his second World Series. And now Posey is poised to win his third in five years, one behind Jeter, who won four in his first five full seasons.
Posey plays an important position for his club, as did Jeter. Each was drafted in the first round and developed by one organization. Both are associated with winning. They even have similar career batting averages: .310 for Jeter in 20 seasons and .308 for Posey in six.
But Posey has not captivated the national consciousness the way Jeter did at Posey’s age. One reason may be that while Posey married his high school sweetheart as a minor leaguer, Jeter opted for a high-profile, celebrity-dating plan, making him a favorite of tabloid gossip pages and enhancing his star appeal. And he did it in New York, where a star’s radiance can be projected to a worldwide audience.
Posey is more like the boy next door, but in many ways he is more vital to the success of the Giants than Jeter ever was to the Yankees’.
Jeter played shortstop, an important position, to be sure. Posey is a catcher, as critical as any position on the field.
“I’ve always said this, and I’ve said it in the last series,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “If you look at a team that’s had success, I think you should look behind the plate, because those guys play such a critical role in your success. Every day they’re handling a pitcher out there and they have to deal with 11, 12 different personalities.”
Notice what happened to the Giants in 2011, the year Posey fractured his ankle in a home-plate collision and played in only 45 games. The Giants were in first place the day he was hurt, with a .563 winning percentage. They ended up winning 86 games (.531) and finishing second in the N.L. West, eight games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The next year, Posey was back, and so were the Giants. He batted .336 and won a Most Valuable Player award — something Jeter never did — and the Giants won the World Series.
Catchers are thought of as smart and tough, but aside from Mike Piazza, they are hardly ever the glamour boys. Jeter was always that — the dashing hunk whose face was regularly seen on game broadcasts, in commercials and on “Saturday Night Live.”
Posey is quiet and contemplative, and less apt to needle others, which was Jeter’s way. Jeter could be downright loud, especially during batting practice or in the clubhouse.
Posey works in the trenches of baseball — behind the plate, with a mask on his face and padding strapped to his body, lunging in the dirt to block pitches and taking foul tips off every part of his body without complaint.
He calls virtually every pitch; coaxes masterpieces from his pitchers, such as Madison Bumgarner’s in Game 5 Sunday (Posey and Bumgarner have been battery mates for six years, including the minor leagues); and bats third for a team with dynastic ambitions.
But he never dated actresses or supermodels, and that’s fine with the Giants.
“Buster’s got a great way about him,” Bochy said. “Pitchers love throwing to him. He’s another guy that’s worked on his game behind the plate. When he came up, we had some things to tweak with him to make him a better player, and he gets it. He’s made himself into, I think, an all- around elite player. Not just a hitter, but a catcher.”
Jeter was drafted sixth over all in 1992 and debuted less than a month before his 21st birthday. Posey was drafted fifth in 2008, and made his debut at age 22.
Another similarity Posey shares with Jeter is that he is accessible and polite, and rarely says anything controversial. When reporters ask him questions, he often strikes a Jeter pose by staring above the questioner, at the room beyond. But, like Jeter, he looks the questioner in the eye when he replies.
And he knows what it takes to close out a World Series, something he will be looking to do in Game 6 Tuesday night.
“You try to stay the course,” Posey said after the Giants won Game 5 Sunday and took a three-games-to-two advantage in the World Series. “You try to pitch well, play good defense and come up with timely hitting.”
If the Giants do all that and win their third title in five years, Posey and his wife may return to Jeter’s old territory in New York to show off the trophy again.