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
He went that long on a team that's not playing well without being re-signed. I'm sure it came through his mind. Whenever anybody gets fired, it's tough.
They were booing in St. Louis, too. Maybe it's the way of the world right now. I never saw them booing anybody in St. Louis.
I have to talk to him about it. It's mostly going to be up to him. You can't force anybody to do anything. But for his sake and his career, you kind of wish he will play somewhere for a while.
He loves to compete, he loves the game. He studies. I don't know anybody who studies that much in baseball. This guy is one of the best guys I can remember having on my team.
He's one of the premier leadoff men in the game. Anybody that follows baseball knows it's tougher to find a good leadoff man than a good power hitter. We're very, very excited to have Juan Pierre.
I don't know if anybody is going to pitch that long. That's No. 1. He's a great competitor, a great guy and a great teammate.
I like his approach. Anybody who can hit the ball up the middle and to the opposite field is going to hit. He'll learn how to hit with power. If he can hit balls to right field, he has power.
You're always concerned about it and you wonder how they're going to handle it. We've only played a few games. It's a period of adjustment for anybody changing leagues. You don't know the pitchers, you don't know the umpires, you don't know the philosophy of the pitching coach on the other side -- especially when you've been in the other league.
I've never heard anybody booed in St. Louis.
I've never seen him that wild. Anybody is capable of losing their control. He doesn't lose it that often. I don't think I've seen him blow one ever. We'll just take it and savor it.
Be more specific of who you are talking about. Yeah, I talked to Walk. We got it straight.
The main guy will get the majority of the playing time. Is that 60 percent? Is that 70 percent? Is that 51 percent? I'll talk to them. Quite frankly, that's a fortunate situation to have three quality guys. It's not a problem; it's a fortunate situation.
It's rare to see your best player is your best citizen, too. He reminds me a lot of how Hank Aaron used to conduct himself.
It got a little hairy there when we had a 3-0 lead and Delgado hit that home run. But that was the only mistake Zambrano made.