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 wanted him to get that victory, but we needed it badly. He didn't get it, but he gave it to us.
Boy, that was a great comeback victory especially after we kind of gave it to them in the (sixth) inning with those two runs.
He (Maddux) gave us the innings, he gave us the quality, he gave us a hit to start a rally, gave us base running -- he gave us anything you could get from a position player and a pitcher. We needed it badly.
Juan has a pretty good idea of when to run. There were quite a few guys who had green lights last year. It's just a matter of them running. I gave guys the green light a lot, but sometimes I was a bit upset when they didn't run. A real base stealer can run better when he feels he can run versus when you tell him to run.
What he gave me was a consciousness on how to do it,
It was a great comeback victory after we gave them those two runs. 'Z' pitched outstanding. Our bullpen did a great job.
This is something you hoped you wouldn't have to do, but it's one of those realities in sport and in life. It's not a pleasant situation, but it's here and it's real. This is a major blow. There's a lot to play for, knowing that he's with us and he gave us all he had all the time. We'll play for him, play for us, and play for everybody like we've been doing.
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.