The Nine – Dusty Baker: A Baseball Life

Throughout February, MLB, MiLB and the Sacramento River Cats will celebrate the contributions and achievements of the Black baseball community, past and present, during Black History Month.

A World Series champion as both a player and a manager. A two-time Major League Baseball All-Star and a three-time Manager of the Year. The most managerial wins among African-American managers and the seventh-most all-time. The inventor of the high-five?

You name it, Johnnie “Dusty” B. Baker Jr. has probably lived it in the world of baseball. The oldest of five siblings wasn’t always geared to be in America’s past time, but nonetheless has left a mark on the game that most can only dream of. Not just for what he’s accomplished, but for the track record of history he’s made. It’s been important not just to the game, but for so many others that look like him as well.

Baker has always had ties to the Sacramento area, though his roots first began in Riverside, Calif. while his father was working at Norton Air Force Base. Basketball was Baker’s first love, but his interest spread to multiple sports. Being just outside of Los Angeles, it was only natural that Baker be a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Among his favorite players was Tommy Davis, a two-time National League batting champion who split time between left field and third base that Baker considered his hero.

It was not until the age of 14 when Baker’s dad was relocated to McClellan Air Force Base, and thus the family packed up and headed for California’s capitol city. While Baker held his Dodger fandom close, the signing of Bobby Bonds in 1968 helped Baker to reconsider his allegiance as he became a fan of the more local San Francisco Giants.

Not just a dual or tri-sport athlete, Baker excelled in four sports at Del Campo High School including basketball, baseball, football, and track. While tough to narrow down what sport to follow into college, the choice became more complex when Baker was drafted following his senior year in the 26^th round of the 1967 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves.

With a basketball scholarship to Santa Clara University on the table, it took the work of one of the greatest baseball players the world has ever seen to convince Baker to sign a rookie deal­ – Hank Aaron. The longtime home run king made a promise to Baker’s mother to watch after him as if he was his own son, and that he would see time in the majors before Baker would have graduated college. Aaron helped make good on that deal, as Baker played in six games during his age 19 season in 1968.

All of this was happening at a crucial point in the United States history, with the U.S. embroiled in the heart of the Vietnam War. In 1968, the military draft was still very much a possibility for young American men, and Baker was no different. While he was not officially drafted, the Atlanta Braves came to Baker with a request that would seem outlandish today.

"Vietnam was going on big time," Baker said in a 2017 interview with Pentagram newspaper writer Jim Dresbach. "My friends were getting drafted. I was in school in junior college, and the Atlanta Braves asked me to go into the Marines. I wasn't crazy about the idea. It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened in my life – joining the Marines.”

Thus, Baker was enrolled in the Marine Corps Reserve, serving as a motor transport mechanic. Baker became a small part of an incredible list of those in baseball who have also served their country, names such as Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and Willie Mays, among others.

"It helped me a lot," Baker said of his years as a Marine. "I came home more disciplined. Like I said, it might not be for everybody, but it definitely helped me at that point and stage of my life."

A total of six years Baker spent with the Marine Corps Reserve, a chance he was afforded as he spent his baseball time mostly in the minor leagues until 1972. It was then that Baker broke out in MLB, playing in 127 games for the Braves while batting .321 and recording a 5.1 WAR. It was such an impressive turnaround for Baker that he garnered enough votes to finish 22nd in MVP voting.

Following his breakout season, Baker set a pair of career highs in 1973 as he played in 159 games while logging 174 hits, numbers he would not quite reach again (though he did come close on numerous occasions). Those were not the only memorable moments of his Atlanta career, as Baker first-hand witnessed one of the greatest moments in baseball history.

On Monday, April 8, 1974, the Atlanta Braves faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the fifth day of the 1974 regular season. Batting from the fifth spot in the order, Baker stood on deck as the very man that was responsible for getting him to sign a rookie deal with the Braves strode to the plate – Hank Aaron. Aaron had walked in the second inning, but the time was right in the home half of the fourth when he unleashed on a 1-0 pitch from Al Downing and sent it over the wall in left-center field to become the (then) new MLB home run king.

Baker spent only one more season in Atlanta before he was then traded to a familiar team–the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team he grew up watching and cheering for, and the team in which one of his former teammates created history, was now the team that he would wear across his chest. When looking at the overview of his career, many of Bakers more notable achievements came in the blue and white at Chavez Ravine.

Over eight seasons with Los Angeles, Baker batted below .260 just once, which came in his first year with the Dodgers while battling a knee injury that was later corrected with offseason surgery. From that point forward, Baker became not just a great player but one of the best in baseball, including the 1980 season at age 31 when Baker batted .294 with 29 homers and 97 RBI, ultimately finishing in fourth in MVP voting while winning a Silver Slugger honor.

Each of the next two seasons in 1980 and 1981 saw Baker end the year batting at or above the .300 mark (including coming one point shy of his career mark when he hit .320 in 1981), earning Baker his only two All-Star selections. He once again finished as a runner up in MVP voting in 1980, finishing seventh while also winning the only Rawlings Gold Glove of his career (plus his second and final Silver Slugger).

Outside of the individual statistics, Baker and the Dodgers also found success as a team. Los Angeles made the postseason in 1977 and found themselves playing against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series, one in which Baker crushed a clutch grand slam in game two off Steve Carlton. For the series, Baker batted .357 with eight RBI, leading him to be named the first-ever NLCS MVP.

Despite advancing to the World Series, the Dodgers fell in six games to the New York Yankees. The 1978 season was much the same, with the Dodgers topping Philadelphia in four games during the NLCS before falling to the Yankees in six games during the World Series.

After missing the playoffs in 1980, a work stoppage in 1981 meant the season took a different shape than normal. What felt the same was the Dodgers returning to the postseason, as they captured the first-half NL West title and ultimately topped the Houston Astros to move to the NLCS against the Montreal Expos. Though it took all five games, the Dodgers were once again in the World Series, against none other than the New York Yankees.

As they say the third time is the charm, and though Baker batted just .167 with a single run driven in. However, the Dodgers picked up the slack and finally topped their cross-country rivals in six games to return to the top of the baseball world.

There’s one other piece of history that doesn’t show up in record books that Baker not only witnessed, but was instrumental in. As the season entered its final weekend, the Dodgers were looking to make history by becoming the first team ever with four players to hit 30 home runs in the same year. Three of Bakers teammates, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and Reggie Smith had already etched their name in the 30-homer club. Baker was yet to do so, who had failed to do so on Friday or Saturday. Then, came the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ contest on Sunday.

Baker then hammered an offering from J.R. Richard into the left-center bleachers at Chavez Ravine to finally make history. Waiting in the on-deck circle is Glenn Burke, a Dodgers rookie, who excitedly stuck his arm in the air as Baker crossed home plate and returned to the dugout. What came next, some believe is the birth of the “high-five.”

"His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back," Baker said in a 2011 story for ESPN The Magazine. "So, I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do."

As many baseball writers and historians noted, the moment filled the stadium with emotion, from pride, to joy, to pure excitement. The moment was so powerful that as Burke stepped to the plate later in the contest for his at-bat, he then smacked his first MLB home run, and Baker returned the favor with a high-five of his own in the dugout.

It is often disputed that the Baker-Burke exchange was the invention of the high five, including from historian Dennis Pirkle. Additionally, Dodgers team historian Mark Langill has stated the game was not televised therefore no footage of the exchange survives. However, it was undeniable the effect it had on the high-five, becoming a permanent fixture in society.

Baker played just four more seasons after becoming World Series champion, including his final season with the Dodgers before jumping ship to their hated foes, the San Francisco Giants. Baker spent only one season in the City by the Bay, and then drove across the Bay Bridge down Interstate 80 (or more likely I-580) to the Oakland Coliseum for his final two seasons.

October 4, 1986, was Baker’s final game, and though he ended with an 0-for-1 performance, the mark that Baker’s playing career left was already cemented. He saw time in over 2,000 games (2,039), amassing a total of 1,981 hits, 242 homers, and 1,013 RBI. An icon of consistency, Baker never had a stint on the injured list. All told, his time with the Dodgers earned Baker a spot in the Legends of Dodger Baseball Hall of Fame, and Los Angeles held a pregame ceremony for Baker prior to their Aug. 9, 2024 contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Though it seemed as if Baker may be done with the game that he had spent the majority of his life in, the game did not appear done with Baker. While working as a stockbroker, it was once again the work of one Hank Aaron that brought Baker back to the game of baseball. Over a phone call late in 1987, Baker spoke with Aaron, as well as other greats Joe Morgan and Frank Robinson, about trying to get jobs for minority baseball players following the end of their playing careers after the controversial statements made by then Dodgers general manager Al Campanis.

Baker’s pursuit brought him in touch with senior executives from the San Francisco Giants, and ultimately led him to Lake Arrowhead in Southern California to pray for guidance. While checking into his hotel, Baker ran into Giants owner Bob Lurie, and provided the sign that Baker needed to go after a job with the Giants. Though there was initial friction on what position to take, Baker had preferred an assistant general manager position while general manager Al Rosen thought Baker was best suited to coach the field, the start of the 1988 season saw Baker coaching first base for the Giants.

A promotion saw Baker spend the next four seasons as the hitting coach, and then eventually the manager of the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League for the 1992 season. The 1992 offseason then provided an interesting opportunity, as new Giants general manager Bob Quinn fired field manager Roger Craig, leaving the team without a skipper.

On Dec. 16, 1992, Dusty Baker was announced as the newest manager of the San Francisco Giants, becoming just the seventh Black manager hired to lead an MLB team. Baker allegedly beat out names such as Davey Lopes and Ron Gardenhire to earn the position, and his tenure started just after one of the most important signings in baseball history.

Exactly 25 years after the Giants had signed Bobby Bonds, the signing that converted Baker from a Dodgers fan to a fan of the orange and black, the Giants inked Bobby’s son Barry to a then-record six-year, $43.75 million deal. The deal became official on Dec. 6, 1992, with Baker coming aboard to skipper the squad just a mere 10 days later.

Over the course of 10 seasons Baker managed the Giants, turning from a once-hated villain to one of the most beloved skippers in franchise history. During his very first campaign Baker led the team to a 103-59 record, an improvement of 31 wins from the year prior, but unfortunately did not make the postseason as his former team the Atlanta Braves captured the NL West with a 104-58 record. That made Baker the first manager in 23 years to win 100 games as a rookie manager, and just the fourth all-time to do so. However, it also made him the eighth manager in history (and most likely the last) to win 100 games but miss the postseason.

Losing seasons followed from 1994-1996, and it wasn’t until 1997 that the Giants turned their fortunes around. Baker then captained the squad to six straight winning campaigns and was three-times named the Manager of the Year (1993, 1997, 2000), the only Giants manager to do so until Gabe Kapler in 2021.

The 2002 season was when Baker finally brought the team to the World Series, winning the NL pennant but coming up short in the Fall Classic against the Los Angeles Angels, coached by Baker’s former Dodgers teammate Mike Scioscia. History had been made yet again, as Baker was only the second African American to manage a World Series team, joining Cito Gaston from 1992-1993 (and later joined by Ron Washington and Dave Roberts). Baker left the Giants after the 2002 season as the winningest manager in the San Francisco era of Giants history with a record of 840-715 (.540), but would later be surpassed by Bruce Bochy.

Following his departure from the Giants, Baker spent the next four years in Chicago with the Cubs (2003-2006; 322-326, .497) and six in Cincinnati (2008-2013; 509-463, .524), but could not replicate his San Francisco success. As skipper of the Cubs he won his 1,000th game as a manager with the Cubs in his 1,848th game on Aug. 30, 2004. When he took over for the reds in 2008, he became their first Black manager in franchise history.

For two years Baker found himself without a job, putting in calls but yet to hear anything back. In 2016 he found his way to the Washington Nationals, and at the time of his hiring, he was the only active African American managing an MLB squad. After a pair of 90-win seasons in Washington, Baker went into another two-year hiatus and returned to manage the Houston Astros in 2020, and became the third manager in MLB history to be hired after the age of 70.

Not only did Baker have to handle the uncertainty of the new reality in the COVID-19 era, he also had to help rehabilitate a team that had been mired in controversy despite winning a World Series. After finishing just 29-31 in the shortened 2020 campaign, Baker then posted three straight years of 90 wins or more including 2022 in which he guided the team to a 106-56 record, his most managerial wins in a single season. Back-to-back AL pennants were claimed in 2021 and 2022, all culminating in a World Series title at the end of 2022.

Baker’s success with Houston helped him further his habit of creating history, as Baker was the first manager to lead five teams to the postseason, win a division title with five different teams, and at age 73 became the oldest manager to win a championship in any of the four major North American sports.

A total of 13 times in his 26 years as a manger Baker guided his teams to a 90-win season, leading him to finish with an overall managerial record of 2,183-1,862-1 (.540). An eye-popping 10 times he led his team to a division title. He currently is the seventh-most managerial wins in MLB history (though is only 12 ahead of his Giants successor, Bruce Bochy), and has the most managerial wins of any African-American manager in history. Even further, he is the most winningest postseason manager in Houston Astros history, but announced his retirement following the ALCS in 2023, a series in which the Astros lost against Bochy’s Texas Rangers.

Not able to stay away from the game for long, Baker returned to the game as a Special Advisor to Baseball Operations with the San Francisco Giants. That’s kept him around the game that he loved and has brought it full circle back to the area that he once called home when he was 14. If you’re lucky, you’ll still see Baker grace the field of Sutter Health Park on occasion or find him simply enjoying the game from a suite.

While he may not have planned for it to be in baseball, Dusty Baker has made history every step he's taken on his baseball journey, leading to a baseball life well lived.