HOUSTON — For now and forever, Dusty Baker, the epic storyteller, first-class name-dropper, toothpick chewer and baseball lifer will bear a most distinguished title: World Series champion manager.
The man who can weave a tale like few others, wistfully recalling his time under Hank Aaron’s tutelage or chance encounters with Jimi Hendrix, John F. Kennedy Jr., and countless others, completed the only missing chapter in his own story Saturday night.
After 25 seasons as a big league skipper peppered with a couple of painful near-misses, the 73-year-old Baker finally made it all the way home when his Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 to win the title.
When Yordan Alvarez connected on a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning, cameras panned to a beaming Baker who raised both arms high above his head.
He became the oldest manager to win a World Series in his third trip as a manager to the Fall Classic. As a player, he went three times with the Dodgers, winning it all in 1981.
He entered Saturday’s game as the winningest manager without a World Series title and improved to 2,094-1,790 with this most memorable victory.
“I got 2,000 wins and all they talk about is I haven’t won the World Series yet,” Baker said Thursday.
They can’t say that anymore.
He joins Dave Roberts (Dodgers, 2020) and Cito Gaston (Blue Jays, 1992, 1993) as the only Black managers to win a World Series.
“I don’t think about being an African American manager because I look in the mirror every day and I know what I am,” he said before the game. “You know what I’m saying? I do know that there’s certain pressure from a lot of people that are pulling for me, especially people of color, and that part I do feel. I hear it every day… and so I feel that I’ve been chosen for this.”
He helped the Astros to their second World Series title and first since the scandal-tainted one in 2017 that made Houston the most hated team in baseball. Baker helped clean up the team’s image after that, and some begrudgingly began rooting for the Astros because they admired him.
While beloved across the game, he quickly became a fan favorite in Houston. Saturday night, several fans proudly displayed signs that read “Do it 4 Dusty.”
Baker is the 12th manager in major league history to reach 2,000 wins and the first Black man to do it. Ten of the 11 other managers who have accumulated at least 2,000 wins are in the Hall of Fame. Bruce Bochy (2,003), who isn’t yet eligible, is the only exception.
Baker managed San Francisco, the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati and Washington before coming to Houston. He’s the only manager in major league history to take five different teams to the postseason.
Baker came close before. In 2002, his San Francisco Giants, starring Barry Bonds, entered Game 6 against the Anaheim Angels a win away from a title. As the road team for the last two games of that series, the Giants squandered a five-run lead in a 6-5 loss in the sixth game before the Angels won the title with a 4-1 victory in Game 7.
After the crushing loss in Game 7, Baker met with his father, Johnnie B. Baker Sr., who delivered a harsh message.
“He goes, ‘Man, after the way (you) lost that one, I don’t know if you’ll ever win another one,'” Baker recalled last year.
Even though his father has been gone for more than a decade, he still thinks about him every day and often recalls that moment. He’s been driven to prove his father wrong.
After being fired by the Nationals following a 97-win season in 2017, Baker wondered if he’d ever get another shot to manage, much less win that elusive title.
Back home in Northern California, as he worked on his wine business and grew collard greens in his garden, he often felt perplexed as to why he had been passed over for interviews so many times as managerial openings came and went, having made inquiries that he said were unanswered over the years.
Then came 2019, and the stunning revelation that the Astros had illicitly stolen signs in 2017 and again in 2018. Manager A.J. Hinch was suspended for a year and subsequently fired, making way for Baker to return to the game.
Baker took over for the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season. The Astros squeaked into the postseason as a wild-card team before heating up in playoffs to come one win shy of reaching the World Series.
Baker made his return to the series last season but came up short again as Houston fell to Atlanta in six games.
Baker was lifelong friends with Aaron, who died in January 2021 at 86. He joked that he probably didn’t have Aaron on his side last year against his Braves, but that things should be different this time around.
“He was probably rooting for the Braves last year,” Baker said last month. “I figure now he’s rooting for me.”
Hammerin’ Hank would certainly have been proud to see his buddy finally reach this milestone since Baker was by his side for his biggest one.
Baker was on deck and among the Braves congregated at the plate to celebrate with Aaron on April 8, 1974, when he hit his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth for most all-time.
Baker thought earlier this week about his dad, mom, Aaron and so many others.
“A couple days ago it was All Souls Day and I think about all the guys that I’ve played with and grew up with and that influenced my life,” he said. “And you think about the souls that — All Souls Day is about the angels that are protecting you. And I believe in that.”
Baker went through his normal routine before coming to the ballpark Saturday. He picked up coffee from a favorite spot in Rice Village and retrieved his clothes from the dry cleaners.
Baker also went to the cobbler to get some “expensive shoes” that he was having repaired because the sole came off.
Good thing, too because after Saturday night’s win he’ll need a nice pair of shoes at the end of his career for a likely walk into the Hall of Fame.