25 seasons. 2093 wins. 1790 losses. Nearly 4000 games as a manager with five different teams, and Dusty Baker finally won his first World Series over the weekend with the Houston Astros. Baker has had a long and fruitful career full of success, failure, happiness, and times of strife. With all of that, he became the oldest manager to win a World Series at 73.
He came to Houston to take over a team dealing with the blowback of a cheating scandal. In a recent article by the New York Times, Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr. said, “When he came here in 2020, we had the whole cheating scandal, and we had Covid. He was a stabilizing force for us. I wish we could have done it a little bit sooner for him, but he truly deserved this.”
His entire career Baker has been a guy who has brought out the best in his players. One who has given his guys the reins to be themselves and the confidence to play to the best of their ability. Everywhere Baker has stepped foot in, he has developed meaningful relationships, has always been loyal to those around him, and has been a positive driving force. Baker is the epitome of what you want in a leader. Even when the Astros were on the verge of recording the final out, Baker didn’t look up. He was writing notes. Finishing the job.
Baker has been universally respected around the league. He has always come to the field with high character. He is honest. He is consistent. And he always has his guys’ back. For years, he couldn’t get a team past the NLDS.
For this reason, people used to be critical of him, but Baker kept pushing. He also kept getting opportunities to manage, not just because of his ability to win but because of his type of person. Every team knew what they would get from him, and it was easy to overlook that he hadn’t gotten past the NLDS.
The best move the Astros made was hiring him after the cheating scandal. Baker gave the Astros clubhouse someone to rally around. A leader they knew would have their back regardless of past events. They had a guy driving the ship who cared about them as human beings and wanted the most success out of each individual in that clubhouse.
Baker is a prime example of never giving up your dreams and, no matter what circumstances you are in, always keeping a soft focus, doing the best you can at your job, stay committed to the people around you. When we think about the importance of relationships, Baker is the exact definition of why relationships are meaningful and why the attitude you bring to the field can ultimately help define your character. As the saying goes, it is always easy to be a good person. Winning a World Series won’t change who Dusty Baker is. Baker didn’t need the World Series to define who he was, but it will be a beautiful accomplishment that he, his family, and his supporters can look back on as he makes his way into the Hall of Fame.
