Ahead of Brandon Belt celebration day, what were his best moments with SF Giants?
SAN FRANCISCO - If it wasn’t abundantly clear by now, there is a very clear winning side for the infamous Belt Wars.
A year after celebrating the career of shortstop Brandon Crawford, the Giants will do the same for first baseman Brandon Belt ahead of their matchup with the Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.
Belt, selected in the fifth round of the 2009 MLB draft out of the University of Texas, has been the Giants’ best first baseman since the turn of the millennium. The Baby Giraffe played all but one of his 13 seasons in the majors with San Francisco, earning an All-Star appearance in 2016 and helping San Francisco win a pair of World Series titles in 2012 and 2014. Over 1310 regular-season games, Belt hit .261 with 175 home runs and an .814 OPS.
Before becoming one of the most important members of the Giants’ championship teams, manager Tony Vitello tried to recruit Belt to Missouri during his time as an assistant coach. Vitello knew he had no shot of luring Belt to Missouri, but appreciated Belt for always being “incredibly cordial.”
“He was incredible on the mound,” Vitello said. “The easiest way to put it is he and (Clayton) Kershaw were arguably the best two lefties in the state of Texas, and therefore, at the time, in the country too. I think he’s even been quoted before saying that he was better than Kershaw. … Then, hitting-wise in college, he was a doubles machine non-stop. His at-bats were always aggravating.”
Belt, despite his background, never got the opportunity to show off his left arm on the mound, but it’s safe to say he’s had a fine career in the field. Ahead of his day in the sun, here are Belt’s best moments as a Giant:
Named to 2011 Opening Day roster
It’s now fairly common for teams to capture and post videos of players being told they’re going to the majors, but that wasn’t quite the case in 2011.
Following their victory in the 2010 World Series, the Giants were documented in a Showtime production titled “The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants.” One of the defining moments of the documentary was when Bruce Bochy called Belt into his office and told the 22-year-old that he was making the Opening Day roster.
With the cameras rolling, Belt succumbed to the emotion of the moment. As Belt stood and wiped away tears, Bochy told his first baseman, “If you need a beer, grab a beer.”
The 21-pitch at-bat
When Belt stepped in the box for his first at-bat on April 22, 2018, second baseman Joe Panik had already put a dent into Jaime Barria’s pitch count by making the righty throw seven pitches before hitting a single. In retrospect, Panik and Barria’s duel was child’s play compared to what happened next.
Belt proceeded to work a 21-pitch at-bat against Barria, a 13-minute-long battle that saw Belt foul off 16 pitches before flying out to right field. At the time, it was the longest at-bat on record (since 1988).
“When I’m in the field I hate it when a batter keeps fouling pitches off,” Belt said at the time. “I’m like ‘Dude, just put it in play. It’s not that hard. Let’s go.’ So I basically had to apologize to everybody after that.”
Captain Belt
When Belt arrived at Wrigley Field’s cramped visiting clubhouse on Sept. 10, 2021, his road gray jersey featured a “C” above the lettering on the left side of his jersey. As Evan Longoria said at the time, Belt had self-proclaimed himself as the team’s captain, so Longoria took a few pieces of black electrical tape to create the “C” for captain.
Belt wasn’t going to keep it on for the game, but relented to peer pressure. In his first game as the Giants’ unofficial captain, Belt went 2-for-3 with a homer, a double and two walks.
"When you're the alpha, you've got to do it," Belt said. "Everybody else just follows along. There's a chance it was self-proclaimed and actually it was, and like I said, they just get in line when they know."
The 18th-inning homer
Quite simply, it’s one of the most iconic home runs in franchise history.
In Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS, the Giants and Nationals deadlocked in a 1-1 tie since the top of the ninth, Belt propelled San Francisco to a 2-0 series lead with a no-doubt solo home run in the top of the 18th inning off Washington’s Tanner Roark. Belt dropped the bat, and catcher Wilson Ramos dropped his shoulders.
“A little bit before I got on deck, we were getting to a point where we had used up all the adrenaline we had and it was like, ‘OH my gosh, I’m getting a little fatigued here,'” Belt recalled to KNBR 680 on Friday morning. “I go back up into the tunnel and chug about three Red Bulls.”
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This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 5:52 AM.