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
I love watching American League games, you know what I mean?
He deserved to win that one. That's hopefully a makeup for some of the great games he's thrown and didn't get a decision or got a loss. I'm glad for him, glad for us, and we can hopefully win a series before we go on the road.
I'm seeing a fresh start to me. I've got a pretty good idea, watching him hit, of his strengths and weaknesses. When the games start, I'll get an even better idea. The thing I don't know yet is, is he a fast starter? Slow starter? It's like with D-Lee -- how many at-bats does he need?
Back in our day, they called this 'salary drive,' ... Try and continue to have a good year and win as many games as you can win. You are playing for respectability right now. What I'm looking for is you play hard and play for love of the game and respect and try to finish as high as you can.
Everybody says, 'Play the kids, play the kids.' But I've got seven games against Houston. Against Houston, I've got to play my best team. We could have a direct impact on who goes. There's always something to play for.
Ain't nothing on hold. These games are going to go on regardless. They're going to go into the record, wins and losses, regardless. You wish you could stop time, but I'm looking at that clock and that second hand's still ticking.
I love my daughter, but she had me on couscous and fixed me pastas and made me eat oatmeal every morning and what else, turkey burgers, turkey bacon, and that kind of stuff. So she wants her dad to live a long time, and I do, too.
You don't want to get beat, number one, and you hate getting shutout, number two, and even worse, no hits.
That's the reality of it. Everybody has a big two or three. The health of those big two or three ... there's a lot riding on it.
I'm not a guy that sits around and does nothing.
The only thing that's in my control is to win ballgames and God is always taking care of me.
I love sharing my knowledge of hitting with others. Now coaches and players at all levels can learn my systematic approach to hitting a baseball with more consistency, mental strength and accuracy.
Everyone has a budget, I don't care who you are.
Everybody knows something, and nobody knows everything.