Dusty Baker has put the pencil down for the ultimate time, as he has introduced his retirement.
Baker’s Houston Astros misplaced the American League Championship Sequence in seven video games to their AL West rival and eventual World Sequence champion Texas Rangers. It was the franchise’s seventh-consecutive LCS, tying an MLB file set by the Atlanta Braves within the Nineteen Nineties.
Houston received the World Sequence final yr, giving Baker his long-coveted first title as a supervisor. (He received as a participant for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.) He inked a one-year deal earlier than this season began.
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Supervisor Dusty Baker, #12, of the Houston Astros, seems to be on in the course of the nationwide anthem previous to Recreation 6 of the ALCS between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Sunday, October 22, 2023, in Houston, Texas. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photographs through Getty Photos)
Nevertheless, the 74-year-old hinted that he acquired some brushback from individuals for the group not having the identical success as they’ve had in current seasons (though they have been one sport away from their third-straight Fall Basic).
Baker mentioned on “The Steam Room” with Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley that Astros followers had change into “spoiled,” and it pushed him to retirement.
“We had loads of success right here, Ernie and Charles, after which the final couple of months right here weren’t very nice, as a result of we weren’t ten video games forward,” Baker said on the podcast. “You spoil individuals. They suppose you are imagined to win this yearly operating away, and it is not like that.”
Baker mentioned the scrutiny that aggravated him, although, wasn’t essentially from credentialed media or baseball writers.
Jose Altuve, #27 of the Houston Astros, celebrates with supervisor Dusty Baker, #12, after hitting a solo dwelling run towards Max Scherzer, #31 of the Texas Rangers, in the course of the third inning in Recreation Three of the American League Championship Sequence at Globe Life Subject on October 18, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. (Stacy Revere/Getty Photos)
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“Yearly’s completely different. There was a complete bunch of criticism from 30-year-olds and bloggers and tweeters that I am not doing this, and I do not know that, and I informed my spouse, ‘You already know, I am form of bored with this and uninterested in the scrutiny, and if I might go handle and present up at, say, 6:30 for a 7:00 sport and depart half-hour after the sport, do not do the (pregame and postgame interviews), I might handle for an additional 4 or 5 years.’ You already know what I imply? After some time, you simply get bored with answering questions,” he mentioned.
The Astros have been the fifth and last group Baker managed over 26 seasons, as he additionally hung out with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals.
Baker took over for the Astros simply earlier than the 2020 season began, after the group fired A.J. Hinch in the course of the fallout of their sign-stealing scheme.
Dusty Baker Jr. of the Houston Astros indicators autographs for followers previous to a sport towards the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium on March 6, 2023, in Jupiter, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Photos)
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The three-time Supervisor of the 12 months owns a profession file of two,183-1,862 and is certainly one of 12 managers to rack up 2,000 wins. He at present ranks seventh all-time, with all six forward of him, and the 2 managers instantly behind him, within the Corridor of Fame.
He’s the one supervisor to guide 5 completely different groups to division titles.
