Yet for as much honor as Baker brings to the game, there have always been whispers about his acumen in the dugout. As the final outs rolled by in Game 6, Baker said he remembered some in the baseball family who have died: Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Bob Watson, Jimmy Wynn. Indeed, there may be no one more beloved within the sport than Baker, who played for 19 seasons and will face one of his former teams - the Atlanta Braves or the Los Angeles Dodgers - in the World Series. “Can you think of anybody else in baseball who people would actively say, ‘You know, I wouldn’t mind if the Astros won - because of Dusty’? Is there another person who could change the narrative of a franchise the way that he can? I can’t think of anybody.” “I think that speaks to why he was the right decision for this franchise 18 or 19 months ago,” General Manager James Click said. A championship would cinch it, though, and Baker’s pursuit might make some fans comfortable rooting for a team they still dislike. “That guy is going to be a Hall of Famer soon,” Maldonado said of Baker, who has easily done enough to earn that honor. But for now he owns a record nobody wants: most wins by a manager who has never won the World Series, with 1,987.
Medal of honor 2010 dusty series#
Five outs from winning the 2003 National League Championship Series with the Chicago Cubs, Baker watched the pennant disappear when a fan touched off a hellscape by innocently reaching for a foul ball.Įverywhere Baker has managed since then - Cincinnati, Washington, Houston - he has steered his team to the playoffs. If that sixth game seemed crushing, Baker’s next one was even worse. The Angels stormed back to win and took the title the next night. But the scoreboard also read 5-0 in Anaheim, Calif., when Baker’s San Francisco Giants had a chance to close out the 2002 World Series. Normally this would be a very good thing. If Baker had chosen to hide until the storm blew over, you’d have understood: He was leading 5-0 in Game 6 of a championship series. Late Friday night they fused as he tried to clinch a pennant as manager of the Houston Astros. HOUSTON - Twin traumas have haunted Dusty Baker for nearly two decades.
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