The Athletic headlined a story recently: “Buster Posey’s Giants legacy is on the line as adulation is shifting to anger.” Late last year, Posey was named team president. Since then, the team has struggled below .500, and the media is highlighting the “mistakes” made under his leadership. This series of “failures” supposedly is undercutting his career .302 average, his Rookie-of-the-Year season, his Most Valuable Player season, his five Silver Slugger awards, three World Series, and one Gold Glove.

But let’s look at his real legacy. Not yet 40, he has four kids—including premature twins he and his wife adopted. He could easily take the easy path: retire, not work, and just enjoy his riches. His net worth is around $140 million. Instead, a quote deep in the story explains everything about the man and why he chose to take this high-pressure job, “I just couldn’t stand the idea of my kids seeing me laying around doing nothing.”

That’s being a man. That’s creating a legacy. He may turn out to be a struggling baseball president, but the legacy of hard work he is establishing for his children is what actually matters.

Let’s look closer at the headline. “Adulation is shifting to anger.” Both those emotions seem alien to me. Anger over how your favorite team is performing? Adulation for a player or executive? This is how fans react? I have never understood the volatile emotional swings of modern fans, and even less so the media narratives that fuel them. You should attend a baseball game to enjoy the competence and athleticism on display.

In his poem “If—” the great English writer Rudyard Kipling gave advice to his son about what is important in life, and what is foolish and to be avoided. Kipling knew there would be wins and losses in life, but how you manage what he called “imposters” is what’s truly important:

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;”

Kipling knew that both triumph and disaster fade. Look no further than baseball history to see how quickly the public forgets. From 1921–1924, the then-New York Giants won four pennants in a row and won the World Series twice, defeating the “Babe Ruth” Yankees twice. Ross Youngs was the fearless leader of these teams. What do Giants’ fans know of him today? What Giants’ legacy did he leave? He died at age 30 from illness, and memories of him died soon thereafter.

For most fans, I think it’s all about winning. My dad took me to Chicago White Sox games when I was a kid. We were there to see the right way to play the game. We pulled for the Sox but applauded opponents when they made great plays.

At the Sacramento Athletics vs Tampa Rays game on August 11, Nick Martinez of the Rays threw a brilliant 9-inning complete game. My wife and I stood up and applauded as he recorded the last out. I explained to fans around us how rare a complete game is in this era, and what a treat it is to see one. They gave me a blank stare. Too bad they could not enjoy Martinez’s accomplishment and instead went home angry because “their team” lost.

Kipling’s wrote this in 1895, and it still holds true.

“If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!”

Fans should enjoy the games, marvel at the achievements, and cherish the memories. Legacy is a fickle thing. In a few years, they won’t remember how the 2026 Giants did. The memory of the three World Series championships won by Posey and his mates earlier this century is quickly receding. And the Giants of a century ago? Their achievements might as well have been written in Sanskrit.