The memories are still fresh for Dusty Baker of the last time, the only time, he went to a World Series. He can still hear the crack of Barry Bonds’ bat and the shriek greeting from the Anaheim Angels rally monkey. He still remembers the feeling of taking the San Francisco Giants to just a few outs away from winning it all and will never forget the sinking sense of how a five-run lead – and a World Series title – slipped on by. It has been a while now, although baseball’s enduring rhythms mean it doesn’t always feel like it. If a reminder was needed that 19 years have elapsed between Baker’s last opportunity and the one he is about to get with the Houston Astros, he doesn’t have far to look. On the field with him Friday night, as the Astros put away the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, was his son Darren, a Berkeley grad and Washington Nationals minor leaguer. Darren is 22 and can scarcely even recall the time he became the most famous three-year-old in sports. As a batboy on that 2002 Giants team, Darren was unforgettably and adorably scooped up by J.T. Snow when he strayed toward home plate mid-play in Game 5. “(Darren’s) kept me young and up on the music, the lingo,” Baker told MLB.com. “Sometimes he’ll say ‘your pants are too tight’ or ‘too loose.’ I think I’m good for him and he’s good for me. It’s a relationship much like I had with my dad. I’m not as strict as my dad was on me, but if you ask him, he’ll probably think I am. Love and discipline.” Some feel Baker needs a World Series ring to book a place in the Hall of Fame and gosh, wouldn’t you love to see him in Cooperstown and to hear the home-spun wisdom he’d surely deliver? He’s one of the most likable people in baseball, not just because he has a nice family story but because he’s battled adversity, been a true trailblazer, treated people right and become part of the fabric of the game. And that creates a paradox because in every other way the Astros are the villains of this World Series, just as they are the villains of baseball, both right now and for a good while yet. Baker was hired for a particular purpose. He came into the campaign with 23 seasons of experience and 1,892 wins, but even triple that number and a fistful of titles wouldn’t have gotten him the gig without his good-natured reputation. That’s what the Astros needed as the aftermath of the 2017 World Series cheating scandal continued to roil. Let’s not pretend anything other than this: the Astros are hated within the sport, to the point that not only do the neutrals overwhelmingly want the Atlanta Braves to prevail over the next week or so but they also care about it more than they would if it was any other team. This year’s best two regular season teams, the 107-win Giants and the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers are gone but make no mistake, this is one heck of a Fall Classic and the plotlines involved grip the emotions and tug with all their might. “Dusty has had one of the most brilliant careers in baseball history,” FOX Sports MLB Analyst Ben Verlander told me. “He was a great player on the field and he’s an all-time great manager. The one thing he doesn’t have is that elusive World Series as a manager. “(If Houston wins) I think it eases the blow for people rooting against the Astros. (They might) hate the Astros but say ‘I’m happy for Dusty’. He deserves that.” The Astros are on an incredible run that was built from a years-long tank job that led to an astonishing stockpile of prospects, many of whom turned into stars. They’ve made it to the league championship series five straight years (only the third team to ever do so) and to the World Series in three of those. Baker will most likely be around next season, with the organization keen to prolong his run in charge, but shortstop Carlos Correa probably won’t, having been unable to come to an agreement on a new deal. Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve still form the core of the lineup but there is little else left from 2017, none of which stops opposing fans from booing and from the franchise being the bad guys everywhere but Houston. It’s a difficult plotline to get your head around, a team that it feels wrong to root for, managed by a guy it’s darn near impossible to root against. The World Series is a juicy matchup in pure baseball terms but its narratives make it even more appealing – and Baker is the most compelling of them all. Here’s what others have said … Kristie Rieken, Yahoo Sports: “The Astros are baseball’s villains, jeered at every stadium for their cheating and hated by most outside of Houston. But Baker is so universally liked around the game that some are begrudgingly cheering for the Astros this week simply because of the veteran manager.” Dusty Baker Astros Manager: “There’s a lot of negative out there, but there’s also a lot of people for us, too. There’s a lot of people pulling for me.” Brandon Phillips, former MLB All-Star: “For him to take advantage of the situation … especially with all the things that went on with that organization, for him to come there and change that all around really shows you his character and what type of manager and what type of man he really is.” |
