It Sure Sounds Like We've Seen The Last Of Dusty Baker As An MLB Manager
Well it didn't take long for the rumors and whispers to become louder as it sounds like Dusty Baker may be hanging up the cleats and retiring as Astros manager at 74 years old. Dusty won a World Series as a manager with Houston last year as well as as a player with the Braves in 1981, invented the high five, and is good friends with Hank Aaron. Dusty has done it all and is the epitome of a Baseball Guy.
That is why is wasn't too shocking when after the game it came out that Dusty has been telling people that 2023 is his final year managing. We knew he wasn't going to be a guy who spent any extended period of time with Houston when he was hired. He was brought in to clean shit up after the cheating scandal and he did just that. Lost in the ALCS his first year in 2020, lost the World Series in 2021, won a World Series in 2022, and lost in 7 in the 2023 ALCS. 2 World Series appearances and 4 straight ALCS trips. The guy knows how to manage and man do his players love him.
He has to be one of the more respected managers in the history of the game too. He should be praised by the city of Houston for taking over a team that had issues all over the place with the scandal and he helped get that stink off. He spoiled that city the last few seasons.
Dusty definitely had some miscues this ALCS and I know a lot of people started dumping on him saying the game has passed him by. I don't think that is the case at all. I think he had some screwups but probably 26-28 teams would kill to have a guy like Dusty in their dugout. You know it pains him to go out without one more ring but it seems like that will be the case. He mentioned his family as the main reason he would likely step away, saying he was cheating them by continuing to manage into his old age. I'm happy for him though, step away on your own terms, you righted the ship, a super well-respected person in the game, and he finally got the ring he was chasing as a manger.
Now he'll go into Cooperstown and we can put all those stories to bed about him not being able to manage in October because of 2022. He has a son in the Nats system so maybe now he can watch him start his baseball career without having to worry about how to get him out or how to pitch to him. Dusty is the man, what a character. Anywhere he went, the winning followed. He went to a World Series on the back of Barry Bonds in 2003 with the Giants, Chicago was a Steve Bartman catch and an Alex Gonzalez error away from a WS appearance with him, he turned Cincinnati into a good team, won 2 straight divisions with the Nats, and then had 4 great seasons in Houston. First ballot HOFer and it isn't close. We were very lucky to watch a guy like Dusty Baker manage for all these years, baseball won't be the same without him. Hope he goes and spends time with his family and we see him make some TV appearances soon, but if this is in fact it for Dusty, well deserved. 2-time World Series champion, 3-time Manager of the Year, NLCS MVP, Gold Glove winner, and winner of 2,183 games as skipper, hell of a career.
Now here is his son almost getting run over by J.T. Snow during the World Series.
