Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.is an American Major League Baseball manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Washington Nationals. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers to pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to the championship in 1981. He then enjoyed a 20-year career as a manager with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and now Washington Nationals. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1949
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I think the main problem was he couldn't feel the ball in his fingers. I guess it's cold, and the ball is a little slicker when it's cold, and he really couldn't feel it. Consequently, he starts trying to drop down, different things to try to command the strike zone, and he had trouble commanding the strike zone.
It certainly doesn't help the situation. It's a period of adjustment (for Jones), changing leagues. You got to give it some time.
He said he'd had enough, ... He had some stressful innings to get through.
He deserved to win that one. That's hopefully a makeup for some of the great games he's thrown and didn't get a decision or got a loss. I'm glad for him, glad for us, and we can hopefully win a series before we go on the road.
He's concerned about fielding his position and running the bases and all that kind of stuff, ... For D-Lee not to be playing, you know it's got to be something.
I try to have businesslike camps all the time with mixing in some fun in there with a little laughter in the workplace at the same time.
I know exactly where he's coming from. I continue to work on it myself.
It's better now than later. He's been working out real hard on his lower half all winter, so fortunately this is the time of year when he shouldn't be set back too far.
I'm open-minded with stuff like that, actually, because I was probably one of the first guys who took some relaxation courses in Venezuela in 1974. I even got hypnotized in '78. I was having trouble concentrating. . . . So, no, I'm very open to a lot of stuff.
He's a fine young man and he's going to be a very good ballplayer.
I was wondering when we'd win a 2-1 game, the way things have been going.
Happy to have him around here and even happier to know he's feeling good.
He has a very consistent personality. Some guys, you can walk into the clubhouse and tell who's hot and who's not by whether they're grumpy or not.
It embarrassed me into learning how to get the signs,