Dusty Baker’s first spring of major league baseball was in the late 60’s with the Braves, which is almost 60 years ago. All this time later, he’s still in baseball, as a special advisor to the Giants. But he’s not in a dugout this spring, having retired from Astros management after they were once again one win away from the World Series.
“My son is the one on the field now,” said Dusty Baker, now 74.
I asked him what it’s like for him, after his long and honorable life in baseball, to watch games from the stands now or from a box sometimes, just because when he’s up in the stands, he spends so much time signing autographs that he feels that he misses a good game.
“I’m weaned from being down there,” he said. “I was in the dugout when I went to my first games in Arizona, but I was in street clothes.”
I asked how much he misses spring training mornings now that he’s out of the uniform. He laughed and said he doesn’t miss the early wake-up calls — not one bit.
βWhen opening day comes,β he said, βI’ll lose the contest. I’m going to miss the games.”
He first made it to the major league level for the Giants in 1993. Now, he has made it to a total of 26 seasons, spending time at the helm of the Cubs, Reds, Nationals and finally, the Astros. He was out for one season between the Cubs and Reds, two between the Reds and Nationals, two between the Nationals and Astros.
“I know how to be away,” he said. “I’ve done it before.”
The best for this baseball great, at least as a manager, came with the Astros. He was with them for four seasons. Twice they went to the World Series. The other two times were away wins.
Dusty took over after the sign-stealing scandal and his first year in Houston was the 2020 campaign cut short by COVID. The Astros were just 29-31 in the regular season, but rallied from 0-3 in the American League Championship Series to force a Game 7. They tried to do what only the ’04 Red Sox had done against the Yankees, but came up suddenly.
The next year, they went to the Series and lost to the Braves. The next year, Dusty Baker was finally a manager who won it all when the Astros beat the Phillies in six games.
Last year, they lost another game 7, this one to the Rangers, or Dusty would have come out on top, at least for now. Because the one thing you don’t hear from him when he talks about his future, even though he’ll be 75 in June, is that Dusty rules out another comeback.
“Never say never,” he said.
We got to talk about last year’s ALCS and how close the Astros were, a Game 7 at home at Minute Maid Park, this chance to get back in the series and play the Diamondbacks, this chance for Dusty to go out. having two consecutive wins.
“Some of our men got cold,” he said. βSome of their guys got burned. This is baseball.”
He has done it all and seen it all, as a player and as a coach. His first three full Major League seasons were with the Braves. They turned out to be Hank Aaron’s last in Atlanta before he returned to Milwaukee and finished his career with the Brewers. So Dusty was young with the Braves when Aaron was big. And it was there in 1974 when Aaron finally broke Babe Ruth’s home run record.
He takes great pride in his work as a manager, in all his stops along the way. He was the right man for the Astros as they played themselves out of the shadow of the scandal and back into the bright lights of October.
No. Check it. Dusty Baker was the perfect man, because no one in the game was more respected than him. He helped hold the team together through a short, difficult regular season until the Astros remembered how to do it again in October.
He got one more with the Astros and then he was gone, just not from baseball. It’s a different kind of spring training for Dusty, in the stands instead of the dugout. He says he’s fine with it, really. It’s still a different kind of baseball spring for him. And he knows it will be even more different once he gets to Opening Day.
More than 2,000 games as a player. More than twice as much as a manager.
“Yeah,” said Dusty Baker. “I’m going to miss these games.”
Not as much as they’ll miss him.