Via the Athletic. This is incredible

https://theathletic.com/3598483/2022/09/21/dusty-baker-astros-stories/?source=user_shared_article


By Jayson Jenks, C. Trent Rosecrans, Patrick Mooney and Daniel Brown

Astros manager Dusty Baker has won more games (2,084) than all but nine managers in the long history of baseball.

Also: Dusty Baker has produced as many good stories as any manager in the long history of baseball. At least that’s how it seems after talking and laughing with his former players from the Reds, Nationals, Giants and Cubs.

Bronson Arroyo, Reds: This guy is like out of a James Bond movie, man.

Shawn Kelley: He’s like half baseball God.

Arroyo: I was standing out in front of the hotel with a girl and he walked up to her and he said, “You know who I am?” She said, “No.” He said, “You seen that commercial with the guy with the beard in the beer commercial, the most interesting man in the world?” And he said, “Well, I’m the second-most-interesting man in the world.” That was pretty much the damn truth.

Michael Wuertz, Cubs: You’re like, “Man, I want to be this guy when I’m that age.”

Kelley: Every now and then, he just has things to say. And it’s always legendary.

Joe Blanton, Nationals: I wish I had some of them recorded.

Kelley: He gets on this rant and he’s like: “What does it take to be a good pitcher?” Dusty calls on this kid in the front and the kid’s like: “Strikes.” So Dusty has someone write it on the board. People are saying the typical ABCs of pitching bulls—. Dusty’s like, “More, more. What do you really have to have?” And I think (Jonathan) Papelbon was like: “Nuts.” We think it’s funny, but Dusty’s like, “Exactly! Write that down.” Then someone is like, “a badass. Cocky.” Now we’re talking.

Clint Robinson, Nationals: You never knew what to expect.

Kelley: Every now and then, Dusty would throw one in. He’d be like: “How about a little bit of a f—you attitude?” So we write that on the board. Dusty goes through it and then picks his favorites. He’s like, “If y’all pitchers want to know from a hitter’s perspective what it takes, I’m gonna take a little bit of f– you, I’m gonna take a little bit of swagger, I’m gonna take a little bit of attitude. I’m gonna take all that s—, I’m gonna mix it in a blender” — he starts stirring his finger — “and I ain’t turning that motherf—er on speed one, two or three. I’m putting that b—- on 10, I’m blending all that up and I’m drinking that s—!” Then he’s like: “All right, stretching’s in five minutes, get out there, guys.”

Danny Espinosa, Nationals: Everyone would just be looking at each other like: What the hell just happened?

Ryan Dempster, Cubs: We had a (motivational) team meeting. And at the end of the team meeting, he said, “To quote Too Short…”

Arroyo: The stories are endless.

Sammy Solis, Nationals: And the thing is, most of the stories are true. It’s the Legend of Dusty.

Kelley: Did I tell you the one about exit velocity?

Solis: Oh my God. That was a huge one.

Kelley: This shows you that Dusty is brilliant, smart, awesome, funny and old school. We’re in spring training and everybody is getting off to kind of a slow start. We’re not hitting great.

Blanton: Players talk when they do that: “What’s your swing doing, what’s your exit velocity?”

Solis: He’d just walk around the clubhouse and just start talking about some s— that bothered him. He was venting about the metrics and exit velocity.

Kelley: Dusty is like: “I see all you guys in the video room, just looking at your swings, reading all these stats. At some point you have to just say, ‘F— all that s— and just go out there and hit.’” He’s like, “All I hear is y’all talking about launch angle and tendencies and exit velocity.” He’s like, “F—ing exit velocity!? Motherf—ing exit velocity?! How about motherf—ing exit hits?!”

Solis: Everybody was just dying.

Kelley: Every time a guy blooped one in the outfield, we’d be like: “F— exit velocity, exit hits!”

Blanton: He brought Willie Mays in the clubhouse, which was amazing. A living legend. He was basically talking to all of us after Willie left the locker room about how good Willie Mays was and he saw Willie Mays do this and Willie Mays do that.

Kelley: He was like: “Do you think Willie Mays would do some s— like that?” All of the sudden, that kind of became our slogan.

Blanton: We did that the whole year. “Do you think Willie Mays couldn’t hit a ball 500 feet?” All the time. “Do you think Willie Mays would take a walk right there?”

Jayson Werth, Nationals: Those Dusty-isms, man. We would crack up on the bus.

Darren Lewis, Giants: We always called them Bake-isms. Like, he has this way of saying things that I’ve never heard anybody say.

Arroyo: He just has a way of summing up the whole world in Dusty-isms.

Lewis: He said, “Darren, when you go up to the plate, do you look around?” And I said no. He said, “Survey the land … You need to survey the land. Look, the center fielder is playing over there, and the left fielder is over here. So this is how they’re going to pitch you.”

Kelley: You listen, you believe it and you remember it. It’s just in your brain.

Solis: You don’t really know where the hell he’s going with it. Sometimes I don’t think he knew where he was going with it. But it would always put a smile on our faces

Solis: He has this feel that’s very hard to find in a manager.

Werth: He’s witty, he’s smart, he’s well-read. You’d walk in his office and he had “The Art of War.”

Blanton: He calls me and Shawn Kelley and is like, “Hey, can I see you guys in my office in 10 minutes?” As soon as we walk in, Dusty’s smoking a cigar, Tupac was blasting so loud you couldn’t hear him talk and he just gives us a speech.

Kelley: He’s just so cool and himself.

Chris Heisey, Reds and Nationals: We were playing in Wrigley Field, and I was in a major slump. He told me one day: “You look like a statue in the batter’s box. You need to take your wife dancing.” I’m like, “Dusty, I don’t dance.” He’s like, “Yeah, I can tell.”

Werth: In 2016, I started slow. More slow than usual. I was getting older, and if you don’t produce, you don’t really get second chances as an older player. Dusty called me in his office. … What he told me was: “If you don’t turn it around quickly, the owners, the front office, everybody — they’re ready to let you go. I’m the only one fighting for you.” Now whether that was true or not …

Robinson: He loved to call all the bench players into his office if we were having a bad homestand and he’d tell us … “I’ll tell you what, I’ve been talking to the front office and they want to get rid of all y’all. And I’m not going to let them do it.” I’m sitting there looking at Chris Heisey, and Chris is biting his lower lip trying not to laugh.

Werth: It was sometime in mid May. He was like: “I told them to give you until June 15th. Now, if you don’t have it going by June 15th, we’ve gotta make a change. That’s fair.” I was like, “Fine, that’s fair. You guys f—ing release me and I’ll go sign with the Mets and kick your ass.” I walked out of there pissed. Lo and behold, end of May, I start playing good. That conversation got me going.

Solis: He just has this way about him.

Werth: On June 15th, I’m sitting at my locker and we’re playing the Cubs and (a voice) came on the speaker in the clubhouse: “Everybody wish Dusty a happy birthday.” I’m like, “That slimy motherf—er! This is like his birthday present to himself! He had this thing all laid out.” Well, that was the day I hit the walk off against the Cubs. We run around like crazy on the field, Dusty comes out, and I’m like, “Happy birthday, motherf—er!” And then – and then – they shove a microphone in my face and I tell everybody to kiss my ass. All inspired by Dusty!

Taylor: He just has the ability to love on people.

Solis: On my birthday, I came into the clubhouse and he had a bottle of wine waiting in my locker.

Heisey: One time he called me into his office in Cincinnati. I don’t do a whole lot of cussing, and he knew that so he’d always apologize for cussing around me. He goes: “Hey, Heisey, I know how you grew up. I know you’re a cheap (expletive). I think you should give this to your wife.” And he gave me this Louis Vuitton purse.

Arroyo: He brought me a Buddy Guy shirt.

Blanton: He left moonshine in my locker…I went into his office, and he was like, “I got it from a buddy of mine. I know you’re from Kentucky so you probably like that s—.”

Werth: He called me in one day and was like, “You like classic rock, don’t you?” I was like, “I can appreciate classic rock. I can get down with all genres.” Then he hands me this autographed picture of the lead singer of The Who and tells me, “You remind me of that dude. I want you to have that.”

Solis: I told him I was a huge reggae fan. He goes, “Man, I know the lead singer of your favorite band.” It’s called Revolution. We’re in San Francisco playing the Giants and he calls me out of the clubhouse one day and the lead singer is standing right there. He goes: “I told him you were a big fan of his. Why don’t you guys chat it up?” It was unbelievable! The next day he had an unreleased album from them waiting in my locker.

Glendon Rusch, Cubs: I’m getting changed and Dusty comes out and he’s like, “G-Unit” — he called me G-Unit — “G-Unit, come here.” … He brought me in his office, introduced me to Hank Aaron and I just sat there for probably, no exaggeration, 15 or 20 minutes and just listened to those guys talk baseball and tell stories. I was so overwhelmed.

Wuertz: When he was in Chicago, he got to know the Obamas really well.

Lewis: I mean, this guy knows everybody.

Mike Krukow, Giants announcer: After a game, he’d sit there and have a glass of scotch with you, a glass of wine with you. And some nights he’d sit there and finish the bottle of scotch, you know? He was just never in a hurry to leave a relationship. Ever.

Ron Wotus, Giants coach: You get to the park early, you jump out of a cab and there’s autograph seekers. There are kids from the neighborhood hanging around and they want autographs. They’re yelling at the coaches: “Hey, Dusty! Hey, Dusty!” And he’ll start a conversation with a kid … Next thing I know, (the kid) is walking in the clubhouse with us.

Joey Votto, Reds: When I was having a hard time, when I was struggling after my father died and I missed that month, I ended up having to go to a hospital in San Diego after I was taken out of a game. I remember he kissed me on the forehead. I remember that specifically because I knew there was love, I knew he cared. That meant a lot to me. I still think about it.

Robinson: He’s very sharp, and he saw everything.

Michael A. Taylor, Nationals: I was scuffling and he told me: “Show up early and meet me down by the cage at 12:30 or so.” I get down there and he’s ready, with a bat, a ball on a tee, and he’s just taking swings, showing me how to hit. He was barreling balls and hitting line drives off the back of the cage. I’m just in awe.

Kelley: He’d hurt my hand high-fiving me after I’d come off the mound because he was more pumped up that I struck out the side than I was.

Espinosa: I felt like he was in there fighting there with you.

Dempster: Dusty called me up to the office in 2006 when we were really struggling as a team towards the end of the year. He asked me what my incentives were. I never had a manager do that in my life. I said, “Games finished.” He was bringing me in, in any game. As long as my arm was feeling OK, I was finishing the game.

Will Clark, Giants: He loved calling people by their nicknames … Til this day, when he and I talk on the phone, he’s like, “Thrillllaaah!”

Dempster: Going to Cincinnati, you go over the bridge and you come (into the city). The bus just went by the exit. We were getting in later, maybe sometime between 11 and 12. And the bus just kept going and it went like one or two exits up. Not a normal route. Is there a road closed or something? Nope, Bake is just going to get his hair cut, so he had the bus drop him off at his barber shop that he liked.

Kelley: It’s just consistently inconsistent — and awesome.

Arroyo: He used to walk out of the office an hour before the game and say, “Bronson, why isn’t the music on?”

Kelley: “Turn that s— up.”

Arroyo: Music was a big power mover for him. It’s a driving force in his life. He felt music was a vibe. He felt like life was about how you win in the world and how you win in baseball was a swag, it was about the way you carried yourself and music played a big part in that.

Wuertz: The dude’s got swag

Solis: He is superstitious as f—.

Arroyo: He’d bring sage into the locker rooms before the team was there on the road, and he’d burn it in the locker rooms to get out all of the bad spirits.

Solis: The guy wore these cotton, full-length long johns. They were literally his from when he played. The elastic was all loose on the legs now; they were disgusting, ratty things. And he wore them under his uniform because he said he never went on the DL so he was going to keep wearing them.

Espinosa: We’d get in a rally and I’d always have my dip can on me. I’d throw a dip in and he’d be like: “Hey, hey, hey, hey, come here, we’ve got it going now. Espy, give me one of those dips.” All the time.

Blanton: I heard stories that if he had a dream the night before about a situation and in the game a similar situation would come up, he would make a change based on that.

Kelley: Every now and then Dusty would go with someone off the wall (out of the bullpen), and you’d be like, “What the….? I’m not sure I follow this one.” But we would make the joke: “I guess he dreamed that s— up last night!” He’d be the first to tell you. He’d be like: “I had this dream last night…”

Blanton: And it would work.

Dempster: So there’s another player for another team that is up there hitting. And (Dusty) says, “Demp, come here, man.” He’s got the double wristbands on. He’s giving signs over to Wendell Kim at third base. He’s got the toothpick in and the game’s going on. He’s like, “Hey, that’s your boy, huh?” I said, “Yeah, we’re really good buddies.” It was a guy I played with before. He just goes, “Yeah, he’s a burner, huh?” I go, “Well, I mean, maybe he could steal like 20 bases if you gave him the green light.” And he just looks over at me – the game’s going on – and he goes, “No, motherf—er, like a burner,” and he makes the sign like you’re smoking weed. And I go, “Well, yeah, I think so? How did you know that?” And he just goes, “Heh heh, man, if you’ve been a burner, you can always tell another burner.” I mean, this guy smoked weed with Jimi Hendrix.

Arroyo: Supposedly he’d have two black bags, and I always saw these two black bags and I never thought much of it. Somebody said in one of the bags he had a gas mask, iodine pills because he was a bit of a prepper. Just in case nuclear war breaks out, he needed these things. As a big-league manager, you’re worried about your food from this mom-and-pop place in San Fran, you’ve got this bag in case war breaks out, you’re thinking about Joey Votto, you’re thinking about Hank Aaron’s mother. He’s just so eclectic, it’s hard to put him in a category with anyone else.

Rusch: Everywhere we went, Dusty brought food in for everybody.

Arroyo: One time he told me, “Have Joey Votto come to my office.” He said, “Joey, I know you’ve been feeling sick and these are two tomatoes that were grown at my house in Sacramento and I want you to have these. And here’s some matzah ball soup for you.”

Votto: He most certainly did.

Arroyo: Miguel Cairo used to have this habit of sneaking into the kitchen and getting into some food and I don’t know if he was doing it on purpose, but he ate Dusty’s soup one day. Dusty started figuring out that Cairo was the one eating his food and he was basically like, “Don’t ever do that again or I’m going to cut ya.” You don’t play with Dusty’s food, man.

Kelley: We’ve got the Cubs coming into town. Dusty calls a meeting. You could just sense this was big for Dusty. He’s telling us in the meeting what I think he wants to tell himself: “Guys, it’s just another series. We’ve got to just relax and do our thing.” I get to the field a little early, and there’s a plate of food on my locker. … So the hitting coach walks by, Kevin Long, and I’m like, “K-Long, do you know whose this is?” He’s like, “I think that’s yours. I think Dusty got that for you. Go in Dusty’s office and ask him.”

Wotus: I bet he brings more food to the ballpark than any player, any manager in the history of the game.

Kelley: So I go in there and he’s like, “Shut the door and sit down.” He goes, “You know we’ve got the Cubs in here. You know I hate them motherf—ers. I was laying in bed last night and thinking: How are we going to beat these motherf—ing Cubs?” I’m like, “Skip, we’re better, come on, we’ve got this.” I’m trying to pump him up. He’s like: “I think I figured it out. I think we’ve got to out-Irish these motherf—ers.” I said, “Wait, what?”

Robinson: You never knew what to expect.

Kelley: He goes, “We’ve got to out-Irish these motherf—ers.” I said: “Out-Irish them?” And he goes: “Yeah, there are some Irish motherf—ers in Chicago, and we’ve got to out-Irish them. Name like Shawn Kelley, I figured you’re the most Irish motherf—er on this team, so you’re going to eat that Shepard’s Pie out there and we’re going to beat these motherf—ers.”

Werth: It was so fun playing for that dude.

Kelley: With Dusty, it’s borderline crazy, but there’s a method to it.

Wuertz: Just a brilliant mind.

Solis: I wasn’t on his team for very long, but he left such an impact on me. It was just so much damn fun.

Kelley: If anyone asks me who my favorite manager is, it’s no hesitation. Dusty Baker.

Votto: I love Dusty Baker. That’s the word to use — I love him

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