DUSTY BAKER

'Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.' (born June 15, 1949 in Riverside, California) is a former outfielder and former manager in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs.

Contents

Playing career

Managerial career

San Francisco Giants

Chicago Cubs

Broadcasting career

Personal life

See also

Notes

External links

Playing career

Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 1967 amateur draft out of Del Campo High School near Sacramento, CA, Dusty Baker began his professional baseball career as an outfielder for the Braves in 1968. After spending sixteen full seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as a short tenure with the San Francisco Giants, and Oakland Athletics, Baker finished his prosperous career as a player with .278 batting average, 242 home runs, and 1,013 runs batted in. Furthermore, a few of Baker’s accomplishments as a player include playing for the National League All-Star team in 1981 and 1982, winning three League Championship series in 1977, 1978, and 1981. Baker ultimately won a World Series title in 1981 with the Dodgers. Baker also earned a spot as a footnote in history. On April 8, 1974, Baker was on deck when Hank Aaron hit home run 715 to pass Babe Ruth in career home runs. (He said he hit a double "That nobody saw and nobody cared" in that at-bat.) Baker played his final season in 1986.

Managerial career

San Francisco Giants

Baker's coaching career, rather ironically, started with his former Dodger arch-rival: the San Francisco Giants. Baker began his coaching career as a first base coach for the San Francisco Giants in 1988, and then spent the following four years (1989-1992) as the hitting coach, and finally became the manager in 1993, replacing the departing Roger Craig. In his very first year as Giants manager, he won the N.L. Manager of the Year award, leading the team to a 103-59 record, which was the second-best record in baseball that year (behind the 104-58 Atlanta Braves), and 31 games better than their 72-90 finish the previous year. His Giants went on to win division titles in 1997 and again in 2000; Baker would win Manager of the Year honors in both of those years as well. In 2002, his Giants gained the Wild-Card berth and from there advanced to the World Series, where they lost in seven games to the Anaheim Angels. It was during his San Francisco tenure that the term "Dustiny" was coined by the late former Giants pitcher Rod Beck. Despite Baker’s success in San Francisco, the Giants let him leave to manage the Chicago Cubs and hired Felipe Alou to replace him.

Chicago Cubs

Baker made a major impact with the Cubs in his first season as manager for the ball club. With the help of an impressive pitching staff and big gun batters such as Sammy Sosa and Moisés Alou, the Chicago Cubs were able to claim their first divisional title in over a decade. Baker instantly became an icon in the Chicago sports scene, as a plethora of Cubs fans could be seen sporting “In Dusty We Trusty!” shirts. Unfortunately, the Cubs’ hopes for winning a World Series title were cut short during the 2003 National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins. While angered Cubs fans denounced the defeat as a mere series of unfortunate “mishaps,” the Marlins would go on to claim the 2003 World Series title. Still crushed by defeat, numerous Cubs began to wear humorous T-shirts, which featured the spoonerism, “Muck the Farlins!”.
Following the 2003 season, Baker would lead the Cubs into a desperate wild card chase. After dropping several crucial games, the team fell out of the Wild Card chase to the Houston Astros. After a disappointing 2004 season, Baker faced even more disasters in 2005. Injuries to several key players such as Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and Nomar Garciaparra rattled the team’s performance, leading them to close out the season with a sub-.500 record. In 2006, Baker came under much fire by many Cubs fans for allegedly mismanaging his team. As rumors circulated that Baker's job was at stake, Cubs’ general manager Jim Hendry announced that Baker would remain manager for the remainder of the season [1].
Finally, after two unproductive seasons with the Cubs, Baker's contract was not renewed after the 2006 season. On October 2, 2006, he was given the chance to hold a press conference to formally announce his departure. The press conference took place during the noon hour and was broadcast live on several local TV stations and nationally on WGN-TV's noon newscast. In the 2006 off-season, the Cubs announced Lou Piniella as Baker's replacement.

Broadcasting career

Despite stating that he was interested in landing another managerial position for the 2007 season, Baker has found no organizations willing to give him that opportunity. He was reported to be a candidate for the San Diego Padres managerial opening.[2]
He served as an ESPN analyst during the 2006 MLB Postseason and has signed a 2-year contract to serve in a similar role during the 2007 and 2008 seasons.[3]

Personal life

Baker has a wife, Melissa, and two children named Natosha and Darren. Darren was famously rescued from being run over at home plate by JT Snow during the 2002 World Series^[1].

See also

★ Top 500 home run hitters of all time

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

★ Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster

Notes

1. Baker's son gets unexpected ride from home plate

External links

★ (as player)

★ (as manager)

★ Dusty's Awards

Accomplishments