Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.is an American Major League Baseball manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Washington Nationals. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers to pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to the championship in 1981. He then enjoyed a 20-year career as a manager with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and now Washington Nationals. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1949
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
He's such a great human being that you want him to go out on his terms. Very rarely do guys get to go out on their terms, how they'd like to go out. He just told me it was time.
He's strong. He's going to love Wrigley Field. He has tremendous sock to left field and to left-center. He doesn't hit the ball up in the air. He keeps it relatively low. The ball jumps off his bat. So far I like his swing. He can hit that fastball, which is where it starts.
He's still upset about them losing. That's Michael -- he wants to win so badly.
He's the guy who's doing it the most correctly. That's why he has Gold Gloves. To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.
He's in the running. This guy has a semi-microscopic ERA.
He's probably the front runner for that position. It's just a matter of how he looks, how healthy he is because at the end he had a few health issues.
He's poised. If he's going to play short, he has to work on getting his throw truer. Right now, it runs into the runner.
He's real honest about when he's had enough.
He's ready to start the season right now.
He's progressing like we've said. You can't believe reports unless it comes from us. If it doesn't come from us, it doesn't count.
He's one of the premier leadoff men in the game. Anybody that follows baseball knows it's tougher to find a good leadoff man than a good power hitter. We're very, very excited to have Juan Pierre.
I don't really spend a lot of time thinking back, but it means a lot that my son is here to see this. He never saw me play and is starting to ask about my career.
I don't know if we've lit him up. We've beaten him. That's all that matters. If there was something, I wouldn't tell you because he'd fix it. Right now they want wins and we need them.
I don't know if we've lit him up but we've beaten him and that's all that matters. So even if there was something I wouldn't tell you because he would correct it, you know what I mean?