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 don't walk across the street thinking I'm going to get hit by a car,
I can't say that, because everybody will be looking over their shoulder or afraid to answer the telephone, thinking some deal or something is going to happen. These things happen.
Every time I think about giving him an off-day, he hits two or three home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off-day. You don't want to give him time off against the Cardinals.
Every time I think about giving him a day off, he hits two home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off day for him.
I've got a year and some change (remaining) on my contract. I've never not honored a contract in my entire life. I didn't sign here for four years to be thinking about going somewhere else.
It's a combination of concentration and expecting the unexpected, and thinking along with your manager, thinking about the situation in the game,
Managers are never 100 percent in control. You're at the mercy of the players. When you're a player, you're driving. I'm the navigator. I hardly ever think about driving anymore, unless there's two out in the bottom of the ninth.
I think walks are overrated unless you can run... If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps. But the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time they're clogging up the bases for somebody who can run.
He's done well for me. What he's done has excited me. He's going to the fall league and was thinking about Puerto Rico.
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.
We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much. He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.
We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much, ... He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.
We certainly don't need to start having this now.
We're going through a real tough stretch now. We've got to find a way against two tough pitchers the next couple of days to try and get out of this.