Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker formally announced his retirement on Wednesday. This confirms reports that broke shortly after the Astros’ elimination from the ALCS Monday night. Baker made his announcement in an interview with USA Today Sports.
Dusty Baker’s Retirement Now Official
An Excellent Player
Baker’s retirement caps a baseball career that lasted over half a century in multiple capacities. An outfielder, he made his big-league debut at age 19 for the Atlanta Braves, with whom he played until 1975. Baker was then traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the 1976 season. It was in Tinseltown where Dusty enjoyed his greatest success as a player. He helped the Dodgers win back-to-back pennants in the late ’70s, winning the NLCS MVP award in 1977. While the Dodgers lost the two subsequent World Series to the New York Yankees, they finally topped the Bombers in 1981.
Aside from that championship, Baker’s other accolades as a player included two All-Star appearances, two Silver Sluggers, and a Gold Glove Award in 1981. He retired after the 1986 season with a career .278 average, 242 home runs, 1,013 RBI, 320 doubles, and a .779 OPS.
A Persistent Manager
Soon after hanging up his spikes, Baker took up coaching. In 1988, he joined the coaching staff of the San Francisco Giants. He spent one season as first base coach and four more as the hitting coach. Baker eventually won the manager’s position in 1993, thus beginning a chapter of his career just as (if not more) illustrious as his playing days.
Baker managed the Giants for the next decade, winning NL Manager of the Year three times. He finally led them to the World Series in 2002. Despite coming within six outs of a championship in Game 6, San Francisco eventually lost in heartbreaking fashion to the then-Anaheim Angels. The Giants did not renew Baker’s contract, and he moved on. Over the course of 15 years, he managed the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Washington Nationals. Despite leading all these clubs to the postseason at some point, their early exits garnered Baker a reputation as a good manager who just couldn’t get it done when it mattered.
That luck changed when Baker got his next managerial opportunity, tapped to lead the Houston Astros in 2020. This was a tall task for Baker, who had to pick up the pieces after the Astros’ cheating scandal. The fallout from that cost previous manager AJ Hinch his job. However, Houston’s talented core remained, and Baker reaped the benefits as dugout general. They reached the ALCS in 2020 and lost the World Series in 2021. But in 2022, everything clicked into place. Winning 106 regular season games, the Astros dominated their AL competition in October before outlasting the Philadelphia Phillies in six games in the World Series. Baker had finally earned his second championship, and first as a manager. At 73, he became the oldest manager to win a World Series.
Riding Off Into the Sunset
Baker has the notable distinction of leading five different teams to the postseason as a manager, something never before accomplished. Not only that, he led each of those five teams to division titles. He is 8th all-time in managerial wins and is the winningest African-American manager in MLB history.
Finally helming a team to a World Series title may have made Baker’s decision to retire a bit easier. He has been a champion in basically every way possible at the major league level. Now, the 74-year-old gets to leave on his own terms, content with a legacy that should endure for years to come.
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