DUSTY’S DREAM: ASTROS WIN WORLD SERIES
From The Press Box
Amaury Pi-González
Manager Dusty Baker has done it! His Houston Astros have won the 2022 World Series beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in 6 games. This title, his first as a manager, should cinch his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, among managers, adding to the over 2,000 wins. This was his ultimate dream since he became a manager, a very good player as we remember, for 19 years who also won a ring in 1981 as a member of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. A career that began with the Atlanta Braves, where he was a teammate of the real home run holder Hank Aaron. Dusty had a front row at history, in Atlanta, Dusty was in the on-deck circle when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, passing Babe Ruth.
Winning a World Series as a player is one thing, but as a manager is totally different. A manager carries the frustration of his team. As a manager, Dusty’s frustrations were as recently as 2020 when he was coaching for the Astros he lost to the Tampa Bay Rays and was eliminated in game 7 during the American League Championship Series. In 2021 his second season with the Astros, right after taking the helm from manager A.J Hinch and the much-publicized cheating scandal. He took that Astros team to the World Series only to lose to the Atlanta Braves in six games. At 73 years old, Dusty is now the oldest manager ever to win a World Series. Before Dusty, it was Jack McKeon who managed the Marlins of 2003 and won the World Series at the age of 72.
The Houston players are grateful and happy for Dusty Baker. He took them into a new era of Houston Astros baseball. José Altuve who was basically booed by fans all over the country, every time he came to the plate, for the cheating scandal that began in 2017. The is the one player that was with the Astros during their bad years and then MLB conducted an investigation in 2019 after two Astros players claimed they were stealing signs. The Astros players and organization feel today like Dusty Baker was exactly the type of man they need at the helm to bring them to the ‘promised land’ and he did.
José Altuve currently has the longest tenure wearing an Astros uniform, he was with the team in 2012 when the team was in the National League Central division and they ended with a 55-107 record and the next season 2013 (the first year the Astros moved from the NL to the American League) as they ended with a dreadful record of 51-111. After Dusty Baker, nobody enjoys this World Series Championship more than the veteran José Altuve, who called this title “a dream come true”. Altuve is the only player that was with the Astros during those very bad seasons in two different leagues. He was celebrating and happy for Dusty Baker who said “Houston is my town”.
Like many managers, Dusty had to endure all the criticism for his decisions. Dusty who was an excellent player in the majors for 19 seasons, was facing a different type of criticism as a manager. Some were brutal commentaries by prominent baseball writers of national acclaim, especially during the 2002 World Series, where Dusty’s Giants lost to the Anaheim Angels. I remember reading one; “Dusty cannot manage a bullpen”.
Today Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker, who was born in 1949 and in 1967 was selected in the 26th round of the MLB Draft. He has been involved in baseball for the majority of his 73 years on this planet, as a player and as a manager, and is rejoicing with his players and having all the fun in the world. Sometimes we sarcastically say “this could not have happened to a better person”, but in Dusty Baker’s case, it is true “this could not have happened to a better person”. I have been privileged to cover his career as a player and a manager. One word comes to mind that best describes the essence of this man….honesty. No wonder every player wants to play for Dusty.
Bravo Dusty!
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