HOUSTON – Freddie Freeman catch the Fall Classic 2021 final, raise both arms and smile in uncontrollable glee. The Brave flooded the field at Truist Park and celebrated their first championship in 26 years. Yuli Gurriel don’t even look into this field. With his back to the festival going on behind him, Gurriel packed up his belongings in the visitors’ tunnel before disappearing into the tunnel. Jose Altuvewearing a sullen face, followed behind Gurriel. Alex Bregmanobviously frustrated, ran to the Houston club behind Altuve.
The Astros weren’t even five minutes into their final elimination from the World Series last year when Dusty Baker said three words that rekindled the flames in their club.
“We’ll be back,” Baker told the Astros players as the wound was still fresh and healing.
The quiet faith in his team is something Baker has carried with him since 2020, when he took over the then-suspended Astros manager AJ Hinch at the height of the eating scandal. Steal Houston’s great contract. Naming Astros captain Baker immediately returns some of the legitimacy that was stripped from Houston when players decided to illegally steal signs using an unauthorized video feed and hit the trash can. The extreme measure and partial irresponsibility led to the Astros’ only championship to date.
Since news of their illegal sign theft was revealed in the winter of 2019, Baker and the Astros have worked to weather the scandal and bring another championship to Houston. Despite the key players who have left the organization since that 2017 championship, including Gerrit Cole, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Charlie Morton and Dallas KeuchelBaker led the Astros to consecutive American League pennants.
“He’s very calm, always poised,” Phillies manager Rob Thompson spoke about Baker on Thursday. “I don’t know what’s going on inside of him, but on the outside he’s very calm, very composed, and I like that about him.”
But for Baker, this ring chase goes beyond the Astros trying to prove they can win without cheating. Winning the World Series as a manager is the only remaining achievement on Baker’s baseball roster. Baker entered Friday’s World Series between the Phillies and Astros as the most winning manager (2,093 wins) in MLB without a championship. Mets Captain Buck Showalter, who owns 1,652 wins at management, is second on that list.
Throughout October, Baker answered several questions about his third time managing a World Series team with the same tone, the same attitude. He loves to win, and for that, he craves a ring. But not his fame or success rests on winning another Fall Classic. He is also bound to the Hall of Fame.
The missing piece of hardware, however, is the elephant in the room. Baker became a World Series champion as a player for 1981 Dodgers and, after three Manager of the Year awards, he’s still looking for that elusive title as captain. This 2022 Astros lineup, headlined by Justin VerlanderBregman, Altuve and others, often talk about how they want to win for Baker.
“We’d love to win for him,” Bregman said on Thursday. “He’s been incredible since he’s been here – unbelievable man, man, manager. He connects with every one of us so well, and we really don’t. want nothing more than to win for him.”
Houston Astros’ Dusty Baker celebrates with Bryan Abreu #52 after defeating the Seattle Mariners in game three of the American League Division Series. (Photo by Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Baker deserves a lot of credit for getting to this point and guiding not only players returning from that ’17 team, but also managing rookies with big boots to fill, like Jeremy Pena. Astros rookie short spot tasked with replacing two-time All-Star Carlos Correa, who signed with Minnesota Twins after the 2021 season. Peña said, since the first day of this year’s spring training, Baker has inspired him to work with his best attitude and best play while not placing aggravate the story concerning Correa.
When telling Peña to turn off outside noise, Baker leads by example. The Astros named Baker as their captain during a particularly tumultuous time, the surveillance taking place before he even arrived on the scene. Baker raises questions about Houston’s sign-stealing scandal with ease, dignity, and even humor. His two decades as a major league manager and his beloved personality across the industry immediately earned the Astros’ respect.
“The boos are fading a little bit,” said the Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who added that Baker has a little something to do with the organization’s changing external image over the past three years.
It’s easy to forget Baker is 73 years old. Given the way Baker’s players describe the 25-year manager, it’s a bit surprising that they describe someone born in the same year that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded.
FLUSHING, NY: Dusty Baker of the Atlanta Braves poses before an MLB game at Shea Stadium. Baker played for the Atlanta Braves from 1968 to 1975. (Photo by Louis Reqeuna/MLB via Getty Images)
“Dusty is a great cat,” says Peña.
Baker’s “Swag,” as Peña puts it, begins with the toothpick he chews in a peach shell and ends with his signature black wristband and gloves. But his distinct style also includes leaving a meaningful, lasting impact on the players he managed throughout the years. Baker witnessed first-hand the sublimation of midfielder Phillies Bryce Harper since the days he managed slugger with National citizen in 2016 and ’17, and the two remain in close contact.
In early October, the last time the Phillies played the Astros in the regular season, Baker heard someone knock on his office door and tell them to come in. The person behind the wounded door was Harper, who had entered his former captain’s room to deliver a simple, warm message.
“I told him, I said, ‘I’ll support you guys if you’re in the World Series and we’re not. But I hope to see you guys.” And he said the same thing,” Harper recalled on Thursday.
Baker has left his mark on the sport and the stars have made headlines for it. Now, he’s only four wins away from filling in the missing piece. But don’t think that if Baker finally wins this year and checks the “managed World Series team” off his résumé that he’ll suddenly clear his desk and close the door to his office. captain on his way out. Baker didn’t join this adventure just for a championship ring.
“I like to win,” Baker said on Thursday. “I always say, if I win one, I want to win two. So you have to win one first and then we’ll be working on number two at that point.”
And after that? Cooperstown is waiting.
Deesha Thosar is a FOX Sports MLB writer. She previously covered the Mets for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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