How Florida State's Buster Posey played all 9 positions in one game in 2008

How Florida State’s Buster Posey played all 9 positions in one game in 2008


How Florida State’s Buster Posey played all 9 positions in one game in 2008

In baseball there are some delicacies with one game that each player dreams of achieving-in to make a little boy proud of them.

Throwing ne-hitter or getting hits are the first to come to mind, but there are other triumphs that get into the top category, once in the blue moon.

Buster Posey was a player who did it, He plays all nine positions in one game for Florida State during his junior year on May 12, 2008. Posey, who is currently president of baseball operations for San Francisco Giants, in the final competition of four games against Savannah, currently President of Baseball Operations for San Francisco Giants, probably achieved the best FSU player.

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Posey cuts nine positions in just seven FSU shifts that triggered tigers, 10-0, and went 1 for 3 with a big slamming on the plate. He became the fourth player who played all nine places under the late coach Mike Martin, joined Mark Barineau (1983), Jose Marzan (1987) and Mike Martin, Jr. (1994).

This is how it did:

Posey’s journey to nine

  • 1st shift: started behind the plate in the catcher
  • 2. Shift: took over to the first base
  • 3. Shift: moved to the second base
  • 4. Shift: moved to shortstop
  • 5. Shift: Slipped to the third base
  • 6. Shift: left field for two outs, went to the center for the finals
  • 7. Shift: Added and gathered two outs, moved to the right field for the finals out

Chip Baker, who left the program after 39 years in 2023, said Posey was playing all nine positions throughout the game plan.

“(Buster) knew what he could do and was very sure what he did,” Baker said Ncaa.com. “Florida State didn’t go to World Series for about six, seven years, and eventually Buster got them back.”

Baker was an icon of FSU baseball – one would think his middle name was a “seminol”. He spent 18 years as an assistant coach in Florida, partly as the third basic coach and 21 seasons as the director of baseball operations. He was a well-known catch instructor who coached several all-American catchers.

Although Posey came to FSU like a shortstop and played the position of his first year in 2006, Baker could say that he would be a catcher if he got into the big leagues. Posey eventually moved to a plate that fell, before he later added another position to his arsenal in his collegial career.

“Buster apparently caught up here, played the shortstop and he was our closer,” Baker said. “We used it occasionally – had six savings (in 2008).”

On that historical day when Posey played all nine positions, the seminols were accommodated by having, at any position in which Posey went, this player went to the left field for this shift.

Surprisingly, it was not the most interesting part of the early shifts. With the bases loaded in the second shift, Posey broke the game open with a large slam on the right field to provide Florida State’s lead 6-0. It was his 16th season and the third career of the Grand Slam.

“As a shortstop hit four home runs like a newcomer. Sophomore year as a catcher hit three home runs,” Baker said. “He went to Cape Cod League (before his junior year) … He came back and he was a man who fell.”

Leesburg, a native of Georgia, told reporters after the game that the first base was the strangest position for him because he had never played there before. He also used four different gloves.

Seminols built 9-0 leadership sixth, which caused Posey to change positions during shifts. He played on the left and the central field in the sixth – his first collegial performance in Outfield – and stood in seventh place and buried on the right field. The previous summer played in the left and right fields on Cape Cod League.

He was lit up and hit two doughs he faced. It was his seventh straight look this season without allowing running when he finished the 2008 campaign with Era 1.19 over nine performances and 10 strikes.

“He could drop (to Bullpen) between the shifts and relaxed behind the playground,” Baker said. “He came out several times and had to take off his gear on the hill.”

Success was just a preview of the heavily decorated season of the catcher, who won every price he was entitled to. No FSU player played all nine positions in one game from Posey. Texas Softball Mia Scott was the last athlete to do it, May 3, 2025.

Part of the role of Baker’s late career in Florida included trips to fans of the Seminoles during home games. This allowed them to see the clubhouse and other complexities of the Dicko Howwser stadium.

But for some reason, Baker launched his tours only at the top of the second shift, never first, regardless of circumstances. When the fans asked why, he told them his reasons: Posey hit the third and did not want to miss the catcher’s bat.

“Buster Posey Bats third and I know he will bat in the first shift,” Baker said. “Most of the time (fans) would miss Buster’s Bat because they would wait for the back door and I would watch Buster’s Bat out of the excavation and then go in.”

Baker did not start his tour in the first or second shift on May 12, intentionally did not give one to allow fans and himself to soak in an unforgettable moment.



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