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Brandon Crawford, the decorated former San Francisco Giants’ shortstop and a Peninsula native, is one of five athletes slated for induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame this spring.
“Being from the Bay Area, all my favorite players are in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, so it’s very humbling and a huge honor for me,” Crawford said through a Giants’ spokesperson.
The Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees on Wednesday, Jan. 14. Along with Crawford, the list featured five-time Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Missy Franklin; two-time track and field world record holder Eddie Hart; four-time Super Bowl champion Jesse Sapolu; and rugby coach Jack Clark, who has led his UC Berkeley team to 30 national championships.
Crawford was born at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View and spent his early childhood in Menlo Park. When he was around 6 years old, his family moved over to Pleasanton, where he played baseball and football for the Foothill High School Falcons.
Crawford showed signs of athleticism from a very young age, his mother Lynn Crawford said in an interview last year with the Pleasanton Weekly. Growing up, he and his family rooted for the Giants, and he always knew it was the team he wanted to play for professionally, Crawford told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Out of his 14 years in major league baseball, he played with the Giants for all but one. During his debut game both in the league and with the San Francisco team in 2011, he hit a grand slam against the Milwaukee Brewers, which proved to be just the beginning of a successful career donning orange and black.
“It was a dream come true to get to play for the Giants and be there as long as I was and accomplish the things I was able to do with the World Series and individual awards,” Crawford said. “It was obviously very special.”
He played more games at shortstop than any player in Giants’ history, according to a press release from the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. Before he retired from baseball in 2024, he had earned two World Series championships, four Gold Gloves and two Wilson Defensive Player of the Year awards, as well as appearing in three All-Star Games.
Crawford’s name will be among more than 200 athletes who have been inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame since its inception in 1979, including his longtime teammate Buster Posey and former manager Bruce Bochy.
The enshrinement dinner and celebration for this year’s inductees is scheduled for May 14 at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. For more information, visit bashof.org.
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