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
It was a privilege for me to manage one of the greatest players in the history of the game, so it will be tough to replace that personality when Barry does retire.
One of the hardest things in this game is a fallen star. When a guy accepts the position that he's in in his career, it makes it easier on a manager and coaches and very beneficial to the guys on the team.
They're avoiding him because he can hit you out of the ballpark. It doesn't have to do with anything but that. That's it. I don't believe any manager would let personal feelings - no matter how they feel - get in the way. They're trying to win games.
I've been going through this for a long time, either chasing somebody or being chased. This is the most fun part of the year. You derive energy from it. When you're in the race and have something to play for, you have some energy. I enjoy it a lot. This is what I manage for.
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.
Certain kids stick out, ... And when I saw Adam in spring training, I liked his attitude, his work ethic. He busts his butt.
He can't put any weight on it right now,
He likes being with the team and we like having Kerry around,
They say come to the ballpark and you'll see something you haven't seen before. I haven't seen that before, you hit a guy in the helmet on the double-play ball.
They say you come to the ballpark and you'll see something you haven't seen, and I haven't seen that before when you hit the guy on the helmet with a double-play ball. They get a run out of that and another run on the two-out base hit.
He doesn't say it, but it's on our minds. The thing is he wants to pitch as many innings as he can to win.