I don't need to tell you that I don't like the Astros. I don't need to tell you that I like Dusty Baker.
You can imagine the conflict when watching a postseason game.
Dusty Baker isn't enough to make me root for the Astros. One man -- one manager -- can't do it all. I mean right now I'm rooting for the Rangers, despite that team containing a manager I rooted against for years as well as one odious relief pitcher.
But, if the Astros win it all, as they've done too many times before, Dusty Baker will make it OK. Because at least Dusty won again, as he did way back in 1981 when he was a player, playing for my team.
I've been a fan of Baker ever since I read about him being traded from the Braves to the Dodgers in the newspaper way back in November 1975. I recall actually being excited about getting Baker though I couldn't have possibly known much about the guy at the time.
Dusty Baker played for the Dodgers for longer than he did for any other team and the peak of his career was with the Dodgers. He hit 30 home runs, he was an All-Star, he won a World Series. That's his Topps Dodgers run.
Some Donruss and Fleer Dusty.
Some of the oddballs I could easily snag from my collection. I have several others.
I would say during that late '70s/early '80s period of rooting for the Dodgers, Baker consistently slotted into third place as far as my favorite Dodgers behind Ron Cey and Reggie Smith. At any time players like Bob Welch, Jerry Reuss, Davey Lopes and Ken Landreaux could move in and out of the top three, but overall I'd say it was Cey, Smith, Baker.
But Baker demonstrated the different perspective that players and fans have. He has had no allegiance to one team through his extremely lengthy career. His allegiance is to baseball alone. Baker, who is 74 now, is the one person still in uniform for an MLB team who was a member of the MLB before I started following baseball. That's amazing. (Baker and Rangers manager Bruce Bochy are the only people competing in these playoffs who appeared on baseball cards I pulled as a kid).
He played for the Braves before and just as I was getting into baseball. What I call B.L.A. (Before L.A.)
He played for Bay Area teams A.L.A. (I didn't bother pulling out the Donruss and Fleer cards). Thank goodness I was cutting back on my baseball viewing at this time. I don't think I could handle Baker in these uniforms, nor with the more static-looking baseball card poses.
Baker has had his share of retro cards in the last 25 years or so, and most of those are with the Dodgers.
Just three from 2004 Upper Deck Timeline. I have a whole bunch more.
But during this "retro" time, he was managing for various teams, going to the Giants (again, wasn't following baseball much at all) and then the Cubs, the Reds and the Nationals. He played for four different teams and has managed five different clubs. He has manager cards with the Giants, Cubs and Reds, but I don't know if he has a Nationals manager card as that's around when licensing got to be a big thing with non-playing personnel.
That's why it's cool to have that 2021 Chrome Anniversary card of Dusty Baker managing the Astros that I just picked up at the card show.
Johnnie B. just keeps plugging away, it doesn't matter the team. He's had a stroke, had cancer, he's been through controversies. While fans cling to teams and wage war with other teams and other fans, Baker clings to baseball, it doesn't matter the players or the organization.
Whether that's good or bad, I'm still rooting for him after 48 years.
Just to be clear, I'm rooting for him. Not the team.
Comments
If (hopefully when) he gets the call from the HoF I really hope the Giants retire his number.
I was a few games in Wrigley in summer 1980, which aligns with the retro card of him in 1980 in Wrigley. I wonder if I was at that game? We sat in the LF bleachers before it was the trendy thing to do and Remember he would converse with fans during the breaks for a new pitcher, etc. Liked him before that but really liked him after interactions like that.