‘He transcended eras’: What Dusty Baker means to baseball
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Buster Olney, ESPN Senior Writer
Dusty Baker’s Hall of Fame speech is going to be a doozy, because the man can drop more big names than anyone. He does it without trying, drawing from an anecdotal memory that covers most of a century. He played against Hoyt Wilhelm, a Hall of Fame pitcher born in 1922, and managed against Evan Carter, born in 2002. He can tell you about what it was like to watch Henry Aaron hammer his record-breaking 715th home run from the on-deck circle, and what it was like to manage Barry Bonds, who broke Aaron’s record.
He’s got stories about Jimi Hendrix, about Bill Russell the basketball player and Bill Russell the shortstop, about Joey Votto and Jose Altuve, about Tommy Lasorda and Tom Seaver, Roberto Clemente and Justin Verlander.
At the outset of spring training this season, ESPN carried a live segment from Astros camp in Florida, and the first question for Baker was this: Who did he hear from in the aftermath of the Astros’ championship in 2022 — Baker’s first as a manager? This was like throwing a hanging breaking ball to Yordan Alvarez — you knew that Baker’s answer was going to be spectacular, laden with star power. And he did not disappoint.
“Sandy Koufax, Barack Obama and Snoop Dogg,” he replied.
Johnnie B. Baker was a really good player, accumulating 1,981 hits, 242 homers, two All-Star appearances and a Gold Glove over 2,039 regular-season games. He is thought to have received the first high-five, in his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, from teammate Glenn Burke. Burke was gay, and Baker maintained a strong friendship with Burke even as teams cast Burke aside. And after his playing career ended, Baker was an even more accomplished manager; his 2,183 wins are seventh-most all-time. He is known as a players’ manager, dressing the part, with his trademark wristbands and spikes and the toothpicks that he gnawed on.
“Dusty was very hip in how he had a keen idea of where we were going, the city and region,” former Reds outfielder Jay Bruce wrote in a text. “In Texas, he’d be dressed in more of a Texas outfit, with cowboy boots. If we were in Miami, he’d have a linen suit on. In the Northeast, it was a pea coat and a beret style hat.
“Usually, when you see someone be so all over the map with something like the way they dress, it can come off as a bit forced. For whatever reason, with Dusty, it never seemed that way. It always fit him.”
If you walked past his office through the years, you were apt to see him deep in conversation with Joey Votto during his time with the Cincinnati Reds, or Bryce Harper when he managed the Washington Nationals, or some fringy player or an athletic trainer. He seemed to collect people. “He would have five to 10 — or more — people waiting for him after the game, from all different backgrounds and cultures and ages,” Bruce recalled. “It was very impressive and eye-opening to what type of guy he was. He transcended eras, and was just universally cool.”
Baker had been out of the game for three years in the winter of 2020, when Astros owner Jim Crane was faced with a unique problem. His franchise was under siege, after the revelations of the sign-stealing scandal of 2017 and the subsequent firing of manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow. On one hand, Crane needed someone who could guide his franchise through the tumultuous months ahead, knowing Astros players — even those who weren’t on the team in 2017 — were doomed to be loudly booed in other parks. He also wanted someone with the experience to foster more success from a group of accomplished players.
He picked Baker, and the winning continued for the Astros. They would reach the American League Championship Series in each of his four seasons, losing to the Braves in the ’21 World Series before defeating the Phillies in 2022. Along the way, Baker continued to collect connections. Bruce wrote, “He’ll keep an eye on the clubhouse and when he sees or feels someone is a bit down or needs something, he brings them food — usually some type of homestyle or Southern type of dish — and he’ll just set it on their chair. No one ever asked for it, but he knew they needed it.
“Far beyond the field, he genuinely cared about his players and people in general. He took the time to get to know them and their families, and you felt like he was doing more than just managing a ballclub … In my experience those things are not happening in every clubhouse, and I believe that the culture created from those types of actions make a different, and really told me who Dusty was.”
The Astros acquired Trey Mancini just before the trade deadline in 2022, at a time when the front office was looking for an upgrade over Yuli Gurriel. But Mancini struggled with the Astros, batting .176 in 51 games, and despite feeling pressure from those above him to continue fielding Mancini in the playoffs, Baker chose to play Gurriel.
But in the midst of that postseason, the Astros played the New York Yankees in New York, and Baker went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and picked up an extra set of prayer beads for Mancini. Baker didn’t know for sure if Mancini is a practicing Catholic, but he knew Mancini attended Notre Dame and had a vowel as the last letter in his name. Hours later, Mancini spoke gratefully in the Houston clubhouse about the gesture. Mancini hadn’t played well for the Astros and wasn’t even a regular in the lineup, but Baker still had him top of mind at a time when he might’ve felt forgotten.
Verlander had never been credited with a World Series victory in his years as a pitcher before Game 5 of the 2022 World Series, and early in his outing that day, it appeared that streak would continue. Verlander’s stuff was flat, and the Astros’ bullpen was quickly active. But Baker waited for Verlander to come up with some combination of his pitches to work his way out of trouble, because, as Baker later explained, he had seen Verlander do that so many times before. Verlander got through five innings and qualified for his first postseason win, and when that game ended, Verlander met Baker near the mouth of the visiting dugout and gave him a huge hug. Baker trusted the player, trusted his heart.
Baker’s time with the Astros was not easy. Because of the timing of his hiring, and because Crane brought him on as a caretaker for an already successful group, Baker didn’t bring in his own set of coaches, and he clashed from time to time with the Houston front office. For the past two years, he fended off efforts to replace catcher Martin Maldonado, a light hitter with a knack for working with pitchers like Verlander. Late in the 2023 season, Baker was advised to give more playing time to Yainer Diaz, a younger catcher with more offensive potential, and Baker’s response, according to sources, was blunt: If somebody really wanted Diaz to catch, that person would bear the responsibility of telling Verlander, Framber Valdez and the other Houston pitchers. Maldonado would be the regular in the postseason.
But by his 26th year as manager, the 74-year-old Baker knew he was moving upstream against the relentless tide of analytics. He once told a story about making a lineup decision in the playoffs — moving Jeremy Pena to the No. 2 spot in 2022 — that went against the front office advice in Houston, and praying to his deceased father during a game that his choice would work out. (In that game, it did.) Baker’s eyes misted over as he related this. His last years as a manager were good years; they also were hard years. Now Baker can move on, to make summer-long connections with grandchildren and his two new hunting dogs. He’ll have more time for fishing.
Before he managed his last game of his career, in front of a small group of broadcasters in his office, Baker leaned forward over his desk and lit an incense stick, the smoke slowly rising as he explained his lineup choices. Along the way, he talked about the neediness of a young player in his clubhouse, and to illustrate his point, he cited an example from his own youth. When Baker played for the Braves, his locker was right next to Aaron’s, and Baker craved the attention and knowledge of an all-time great player. Eventually, Baker recalled, Aaron would look over to him wryly and say, yes, that was the time for questions and answers, and Baker would jump in.
It felt like a prelude to the speech he will give three years from now, when Baker will likely get his call for the Hall of Fame, when the Cooperstown lords summon him from a dock somewhere onto the stage in upstate New York. He will deliver warmth, grace, stories that reflect a long journey that was more difficult than he ever let on, but a time in the game that he deeply cherished, for the connections he fostered along the way, with Aaron and Mays, rappers and basketball players and light-hitting catchers, bat boys and presidents.
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Bradford Doolittle
Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous selection, and he’ll be joined in the Class of 2025 by starting pitcher CC Sabathia and closer Billy Wagner.
Suzuki, who got 393 of 394 votes in balloting of the Baseball Writers Association of America, would have joined Yankees great Mariano Rivera (2019) as the only unanimous selections. Instead, Suzuki’s 99.746% of the vote is second only to Derek Jeter’s 99.748% (396 of 397 ballots cast in 2020) as the highest plurality for a position player in Hall of Fame voting, per the BBWAA.
“There was a time when I didn’t even get a chance to play in the MLB,” Suzuki told MLB TV. “So what an honor it is to be for me to be here and be a Hall of Famer.”
Suzuki collected 2,542 of his 3,089 career hits as a member of the Seattle Mariners. Before that, he collected 1,278 hits in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan, giving him more overall hits (4,367) than Pete Rose, MLB’s all-time leader.
Suzuki did not debut in MLB until he was 27 years old, but he exploded on the scene in 2001 by winning Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in his first season, leading Seattle to a record-tying 116 regular-season wins.
Suzuki and Sabathia finished first and second in 2001 voting for American League Rookie of the year and later were teammates for two seasons with the Yankees.
Sabathia, who won 251 career games, was also on the ballot for the first time. He was the 2007 AL Cy Young winner while with Cleveland and a six-time All-Star. His 3,093 career strikeouts make him one of 19 members of the 3,000-strikeout club. He was named on 86.8% of the ballots
Wagner’s 422 career saves — 225 of which came with the Houston Astros — are the eighth-most in big league history. His selection comes in his 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot, earning 82.5% for the seven-time All-Star.
Just falling short in the balloting was outfielder Carlos Beltran, who was named on 70.3% of ballots, shy of the 75% threshold necessary for election.
Beltran won 1999 AL Rookie of the Year honors while with Kansas City. He went on to make nine All-Star teams and become one of five players in history with at least 400 homers and 300 stolen bases.
A key member and clubhouse leader of the controversial 2017 World Series champion Astros, whose legacy was tainted by a sign-stealing scandal, Beltran’s selection would have bode well for other members of that squad who will be under consideration in the years to come.
Also coming up short was 10-time Gold Glove outfielder Andruw Jones, who was named on 76.2% of the ballots. Jones saw an uptick from last year’s total (61.6%) and still has two more years of ballot eligibility remaining.
PED-associated players on the ballot didn’t make much headway in the balloting. Alex Rodriguez finished with 37.1%, while Manny Ramirez was at 34.3%.
The three BBWAA electees will join Dick Allen and Dave Parker, who were selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December, in being honored at the induction ceremony on July 27 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York.
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Ryan McGee
ATLANTA — The 2025 edition of the College Football Playoff National Championship game was not about vengeance. It wasn’t about proving people wrong. Nor was it about wadding up a scarlet and gray rag and stuffing it directly into the mouths of the chorale of outside noise.
Bless their hearts, that’s what the Ohio State football team and coaching staff kept telling us. That beating Notre Dame on Monday night and winning the school’s first national title in a decade wasn’t about any of that stuff.
But yeah, it totally was.
“We worked really hard to tune out the outside noise, truly,” confessed Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, words spoken on the field moments after having a national champions T-shirt pulled over his shoulders and punctuated by slaps to those shoulders from his current teammates as well as Buckeyes of days gone by. “But outside noise can also be a great way to bring a team together. You close the doors to the locker room to lock all that out, bunker down together and go to work. That’s what it did for us. I think anyone on this team will tell you that.”
Well, now they will. Finally.
The “it’s not about that” mantra was what the Buckeyes kept repeating, in unison, beginning way back in the summer weeks leading into a campaign when they were voted No. 2 in the nation in both preseason polls. Those expectations were earned in no small part because of a much-hyped offseason, powered by an NIL shopping spree worth $20 million, according to athletic director Ross Bjork, to lure transfers from around the nation.
We were told that, no, it wasn’t about those players justifying their decisions to change teams. Like Howard, who came to Ohio State from Kansas State, and running back Quinshon Judkins, who became a Buckeye after carrying the football at Ole Miss. Both are still viewed as traitors by many at the places they departed. But no, it was never about sending a message that they were right to pack up and move to Columbus.
Yeah, right.
“When people asked me why I left Ole Miss to come here, my answer was always the same: To go somewhere that I could win a national championship,” said Judkins, who scored three of Ohio State’s four touchdowns against the Fighting Irish. He grew up one state over from the site of the CFP title game, 270 miles away in Montgomery, Alabama. “Now, that championship has happened. And I’m not going to lie: To do it back here in the South, in Atlanta, in front of so many people who have known about me all the way back to high school, that makes it even more special.”
We were told that, no, it wasn’t about the all-star coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who once served as head coach with the Oregon Ducks, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers and left the same gig at UCLA to take a demotion at Ohio State. In no way was this winter about proving that Kelly hadn’t lost the edge that once had him hailed as a mastermind of modern football offenses.
Um, OK.
“For me, it feels good to have fun again,” said Kelly, 61, flashing a face-splitter grin rarely seen during his NFL and UCLA tenures. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, 45, is a Kelly protégé, having been coached by Kelly as a New Hampshire player. Kelly’s playcalling that has been a CFP bulldozer scored touchdowns on Ohio State’s first four drives. “I never forgot how to coach. But maybe I forgot how to have fun at the job.”
“I know this,” Kelly added, laughing. “It’s a lot more fun when you’re moving the football and winning.”
And, man, we were told so many times that in no way was this season or postseason about hitting a reset button on the perception of Day, in his sixth season as the leader of an Ohio State football program that is second to none when it comes to pride but also exceeded by none when it comes to pressure. Day dipped deep from that “Guys, it’s not about me” well on the evening of Nov. 30, after his fourth straight regular-season defeat at the hands of arch nemesis Michigan. When the Buckeyes were awarded an at-large berth in the newly expanded 12-team CFP, he once again implored to anyone who would listen that the narrative of his team’s postseason should be about its destiny rather than the future of the coach.
For a month of CFP games and days, all the way up until Monday’s kickoff, Day reminded us all that none of this was about him. Even though a security detail was assigned to his home in Columbus ever since the Michigan game. Even as the internet was aflame with posts about his job security and memes questioning his choice of beard dyes. Even as, in the days leading into the title game, his wife opened up to a Columbus TV station about the family’s dealings with death threats.
And even as, during the championship game itself, Ohio State’s seemingly insurmountable lead shrank from 31-7 midway through the third quarter to a scant eight points in the closing minutes.
But as the clock finally hit zeroes and the scoreboard read “Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23” with OSU-colored confetti raining down over the Buckeyes’ heads, the story — as told by the team itself — was indeed suddenly about Day, and his staff, and his players, and their shared personification of the T-shirts and flags worn by so many of their supporters among the 77,660 in attendance: “OHIO AGAINST THE WORLD.”
Even if, for them, sometimes Ohio’s flagship football team found itself up against a not-insignificant percentage of Ohio itself, including the folks who refused to attend the CFP opener in Columbus because they were still mad about the Michigan defeat and no doubt will still consider this natty as having an asterisk because of that same loss.
Because for all of Day & Co.’s talk of this not being about revenge, the truth was revealed on their postgame faces. Their shared expressions of restraint, the ones we’d seen all fall, were instantly replaced by a collective look of relief. Their frowns washed away by Gatorade dumps, revealing the smiles of men who had indeed just sent a message and were finally willing to admit that had been their motivation all along.
You only had to ask. Because, finally, they would answer.
“I feel like, from the start of this thing, we were knocking on the door. But you have to find a way to break through and make it to where we are right now,” said Day, no longer stiff-arming the question but definitely still working to stifle his emotion. “In this day and age, there’s so much noise. Social media. People have to write articles. But when you sign up for this job, when you agree to coach at Ohio State, that’s part of the job.
“I’m a grown-up. I can take it. But the hard part is your family having to live with it. The players you bring in, them having to live with it. Their families. In the end, that’s how you build a football family. Take the stuff that people want to use to tear you apart and try to turn that into something that makes you closer.”
For 3 hours and 20 minutes, the Buckeyes pushed back on Notre Dame with both hands. They also pushed back on those would-be team destroyers and head coach firers. When it was over, they extended one finger in the direction of those same haters. It wasn’t a middle finger, but it was close. It was the finger that soon will be fitted for a national championship ring.
“Ohio State might not be for everybody,” Day added, smiling once again. “But it’s certainly for these guys.”
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Max Olson
Ohio State transfer quarterback Devin Brown has signed with Cal, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
After winning a national championship with the Buckeyes on Monday night, Ohio State’s No. 2 quarterback is seeking an opportunity to start and will move on to join the Golden Bears. Brown has two more seasons of eligibility.
Brown entered the NCAA transfer portal on Dec. 9 but remained with the team during their College Football Playoff run.
The redshirt sophomore was the No. 81 overall recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2022 and lost a competition with Kyle McCord for Ohio State’s starting job entering the 2023 season. This season, Brown appeared in nine games while backing up Will Howard.
Brown threw for 331 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on 56% passing and rushed for 37 yards and one score over three seasons at Ohio State. He earned one start in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at the end of the 2023 season but exited with an ankle injury in a 14-3 loss to Missouri.
After losing to the Tigers, Ohio State coach Ryan Day brought in Howard, a Kansas State transfer who guided the program to its first College Football Playoff national championship since 2014. Howard earned offensive MVP honors in the Buckeyes’ 34-23 title game victory over Notre Dame after competing 17-of-21 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
The Buckeyes are losing Howard, Brown and freshman backup Air Noland, who transferred to South Carolina, as they begin preparations to defend their national title in 2025. Julian Sayin, a former five-star recruit, is expected to be the frontrunner in the Buckeyes’ quarterback competition entering his redshirt freshman season.
Brown is joining a Cal team coming off a 6-7 run through its first year in the ACC that must replace starter Fernando Mendoza, who transferred to Indiana. Brown will compete with touted incoming freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who joined the program after a brief stint at Oregon.
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