Crawford, a 2-time WS Champion with the Giants, retired.

San Francisco — Brandon Crawford Retires after 14 major league seasons, all but one of them with his hometown team. San Francisco Giants As a smart fielding shortstop and fan favorite.

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

“During this time of year, I am constantly reminded of the things in my life that I am most grateful for. Baseball is one of them.” Crawford wrote. “Baseball has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I will be grateful for the opportunities and experiences it has given me for the rest of my life.

“Time is precious. I’m incredibly grateful for all the years I’ve had playing the game I love, but now it’s time to spend it with the people I care about the most. Thank you all for what has been an incredible ride for me over the years.”

A fourth-round draft pick in 2008 out of UCLA, Crawford made his debut on May 27, 2011, and made the World Series with the Giants in 2012 and 2014. Championship won — last two titles in every-other-year run starting in 2010. .

“Congratulations to Kara on his outstanding career,” former Giants manager Bruce Bochy, now in Texas, said via text message. “Just an amazing story of a kid becoming one of the best shortstops in San Francisco Giants history, the team he grew up with and loved.”

The Giants said they will honor Crawford’s career on April 26 at Oracle Park. He was a career .249 hitter with 147 home runs and 748 RBI, but his ability to make key defensive plays is what will be remembered by many.

“It was an honor to know Brandon as a friend and a colleague,” the new Giants president of baseball operations said. Buster Posey said in a statement. “From the first day we were both drafted in 2008 and playing together until our final year in 2021, it was an honor to play with him for 14 years. Whether it was the clutch moments like his 2014 wild card win. I hit the grand slam game in Pittsburgh, the franchise record seven-hit game he recorded in Miami, or the spectacular defensive plays and acrobatic throws he made over and over again. Brandon made his mark in a way that very few athletes do.”

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

Crawford and his wife, Jalene, have five young children, and family will be Crawford’s main focus going forward.

New York Yankees Ace Garrett Cole Crawford’s sister is married to Amy, and admires what Crawford has done on and off the field.

“Brandon is an incredible teammate, competitor, and the greatest Giants shortstop of all time,” Cole said in a text message. “He’s been an amazing brother to me, and an amazing role model for future shortstops and kids with championship dreams. I was lucky enough to share some special moments with him along the way. Ska, my big league debut, our first All-Star Game, and providing the lineup cards at Yankee Stadium has made a lasting impact on the game we love, and knowing that he’s all about those people. Respect and appreciate He crossed his path, against his team as well.”

As a boy, Crawford leaned on the railing of Candlestick Park with his hat tipped backwards in support of his beloved Giants — long before he eventually became a star for them.

When he signed a two-year, $32 million contract in August 2021 compared to the $75 million, six-year contract he signed in November 2015, Crawford was thankful to have played in one place for so long.

“Being drafted by my hometown team and spending most of my career with them is more than I could have ever dreamed of as a kid,” Crawford wrote in Wednesday’s post. “I definitely pretended to win a World Series in my backyard — but to win two? It 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 honor not only for me, but for Giants fans everywhere,” said team president and CEO Larry Beer.

“He was an All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, two-time World Series champion, and Lou Gehrig and Willie Mack Award winner, who always carried himself with class, dignity and respect. Brandon, 16 to be part of the franchise until — indeed for its entire 37 years, first as a young fan, who will ever forget that indelible. Leaning on the railing at Candlestick Park His picture when this matter There was a possibility that his Giants could leave San Francisco — and as this chapter closes on his career, his legacy in the game will be celebrated by fans, teammates and generations to come Let’s look at it from the example of “.