By: Jacob Christner
We all know the story by now.
Dusty Baker finally broke his own curse last year. He led the Houston Astros to the World Series title.
It was a long time coming. Mind you, he’d had plenty of success for the prior twenty nine years.
Wins – 2000+
90 win seasons – 11
Division titles – 8
Playoff wins – 40
Without the World Series, that is a Hall of Fame resume, and on the first ballot. The ring just cemented it, and Dusty capped it off bydoing a very Dusty thing…filling in the final out on the scorecard before celebrating.
Now with that over with, the bad luck being behind Dusty and he can settle in as one of the greatest managers ever, only one question remains.
Where is his second ring?
Let me explain.
In 2003, Dusty Baker came to the Cubs fresh off a World Series appearance with the Giants. We all know what happened there. He supposedly pulled Russ Ortiz too early, the bullpen blows a 5-0 lead, and Dusty gets blamed because, well, a lot of fans are stupid creatures.
We’ll fast forward through the 2003 season because there’s a lot more of an important point to this story. Cubs win the division, have one hell of a memorable playoff run, come five outs from the World Series, and we know the rest of the story. This time Dusty shared the blame with a fan who did what every last fan would have done in the moment, which put him in forever hiding, because a lot of fans are stupid creatures.
The important point isn’t the game, but the before and after of Dusty Baker.
Before Dusty, there was fifty eight years, three playoff appearances, and eight star level players that came in their power years…Hank Sauer, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins, Bill Buckner, Dave Kingman, Ryne Sandberg, Rick Sutcliffe, Andre Dawson…that’s it. Sammy Sosa became the strongest with the Cubs, Ralph Kiner came at the very end, Hoyt Wilhelm pitched for the Cubs at 48 and 49, Bobby Bonds had his final year with the Cubs, Richie Ashburn his last two years. Even Leo Durocher came to the Cubs eleven years away from managing. Stars laughed at the idea of Chicago. Your career went to die there, whether it was the Sox or Cubs.
Then Dusty comes. It was a summer of “In Dusty We Trusty”, and it was a beautiful summer culminated by a sweep at Wrigley to clinch the division. The names that came to the Cubs that year, whether by trade deadline or free agency, were unheard of for a Chicago team. Aramis Ramirez, Eric Karros(who was at the end, but was still very effective), Mark Grudzielanek, and Kenny Lofton all came to Chicago. Remember that I named eight star level players that showed up in their prime in fifty eight years.
Dusty brought four immediately.
If we are going by his record, like goofy fans are known to do, then Baker accomplished nothing. His last year brought him under .500, and it was time to go by the time 2006 ended, especially when the emotional nitwit fans were cheering his demise.
But it’s the stupid people that only see the surface. They think a President controls oil prices, they think an athlete makes 100% of a contract, they think the HR department is responsible for their missing check. I can go on and on. Dusty’s main accomplishments were long term, and changed the franchise forever. The lovable losers moniker died with Dusty as fans had higher expectations beyond getting blasted at a 1:00 game, and probably losing 9-1.
The truth is the truth. There is no 2016 title without Dusty Baker’s hiring in 2003. There are none of the players that made up that WS team because there would be no Theo Epstein building a top minor league system. Theo Epstein’s reputation was that he came to organizations with stability so that he wouldn’t build his vision on sand.
That wasn’t the 2002 and before Chicago Cubs.
Without the hiring, there is no Lou Pinella. Replacements in years past were such luminaries as Bruce Kimm, Rene Lachemann, Jim Riggleman, Tom Trebelhorn, and on and on. In this era, Dale Sveum begat Joe Maddon, and the rest is history.
Most importantly, Seiya Suzuki is working on bringing Shohei Ohtani to Chicago. This is this era’s version of Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, or Barry Bonds coming to Chicago at the height of their powers. That doesn’t happen before 2003.
Dusty Baker hasn’t had direct fingerprints on the Cubs in twenty years, but his hiring started this whole chain, and for that, he deserves thanks.
And his own ring from 2016. He started that train rolling down the tracks.
While we’re at it, I’m starting the petition for a statue.
