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
We want to get him in the position to give him the best chance to make the club. He worked hard last winter. We know he can help this club. I can tell he's helping some of the young guys and the veteran guys about how to go about their business and how to play this game.
It was very symbolic. It seems likes we get in that situation and we don't get anything. It's very frustrating. We had a great chance to win that game.
If we can get them going in the middle of the lineup and get Juan Pierre on base, we've got a chance to have a lot of stuff happening.
I didn't get a chance to talk to him so I know it's an emergency.
It's a great run by Greg. The guys really wanted to win for him. We left him out there to give him a chance ... to win.
He said, 'Hey, man, there's a good chance he can relate to you and perform. There's a bunch of talent that's left there, he's only 27, 28 years old.
He looked happy. If he looks happy, there's a chance he threw the ball pretty good.
I was very pleased to see Woody. He looked like he was doing pretty good. He didn't look like a guy who was operated on. It shows you what modern medicine can do. They told us when Woody went in, there was a good chance he wouldn't have much swelling because he didn't have much swelling on his shoulder.
Guys get a chance to get more rest, ... Guys get a chance to do life stuff: Go do laundry, go to the car wash, go to the bank, shopping. Regular stuff you don't get a chance to do, stuff that's closed when you get to the park, stuff that's closed when you leave the park.
These guys are getting a chance to play that they wouldn't ordinarily have. If nothing else, they're impressing us and everybody else who has seen them. In order to have a good team, in order to have a good organization, you have to be deep in certain positions.
I never asked him. I asked other guys and they all said, 'No.' I didn't ask Barry. If you've ever been around Barry, Barry's his own man.
I'm sure there is no miracle drug that's going to make it go away right away.
I'm sure he'd like to end the year pitching, knowing Woody. If we can get him in there, we'll try to do that.
I'm sure something will work out for him. I certainly don't think he's through. Injuries have hurt him the last couple of years. I'm hoping he gets a job.