HOUSTON – Dusty Baker has expressed to multiple people inside and outside the Houston Astros organization that 2023 will be his final season as manager, sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic last week.
Baker, who managed this season on an expired one-year contract, declined comment when asked by The Athletic if he had told people in the game that this was his last season. Houston’s bid to win back-to-back World Series titles ended Monday night with an 11-4 loss in Game 7 to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series.
The 74-year-old Baker, who has played 26 major league seasons, has a career regular-season record of 2,183-1,862, as well as three pennants and a World Series title. That long-awaited championship came in 2022 with Houston, a team he has led for the past four years after he was hired to stabilize the organization following a sign-stealing scandal that came to light just weeks after the Astros’ loss 2019 World Series to the Washington Nationals.
Multiple sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic that they expect Baker to want to remain in the game in some capacity. So why shouldn’t Baker make it more public that he’s willing to give up his permanent spot in the dugout for another role in baseball?
A few reasons. First, Baker didn’t want the attention that a farewell tour would bring, multiple sources suggest. Furthermore, Baker, who has told The Athletic multiple times that he is “considering retirement,” still has a chance to change his mind. According to multiple sources, this is the first season Baker has talked about quitting management and taking a break from the game’s daily grind.
“When he’s done leading, I know he can bring a lot of knowledge to an organization,” said Baker’s wife, Melissa, to whom he has been married for nearly 30 years, adding that her husband has not yet made a final decision . “I know he can help build a winner. My husband just wants to win and he’s a winner.”
If Baker does indeed retire, he will end his tenure with the Astros as one of the franchise’s most successful managers. Baker guided a superstar-studded team through turmoil and turnover, handling animus as only he could and imploring peace and positivity with a big smile and gentle charm.
“I told the guys that I love them and appreciate their effort and the way they go about their business,” Baker said as he followed up his message to this year’s team and team at Monday’s post-elimination press conference his own future was asked. “I don’t know, I haven’t had time to evaluate and think about my future because I’m at the bottom of the list in that respect because I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t want to steal the spotlight or anything from these guys. You have to enjoy what we have done, think about how we can be better, and then I will evaluate my situation in my life. And so we’ll see. I’ll talk to my daughter. I have two grandchildren, … I really betrayed them in my search … I have two dogs, hunting dogs, one year old, they wouldn’t even recognize me when I go into the house because I haven’t been home since February 10th .”
Baker’s .586 winning percentage trails only AJ Hinch – the man he replaced – and is the highest of any manager in team history. Baker led the team to four consecutive ALCS appearances and appeared in two World Series. He and Hinch are the only managers in team history to win a World Series.
When Houston won the AL West title in 2021, Baker became the first manager in Major League history to win a division title with five different clubs. He is 34-19 in the postseason with the Astros, which puts him fourth on the sport’s all-time list with 57 playoff wins.
However, Baker’s tenure was fraught with difficulties. He clashed with former general manager James Click, whom owner Jim Crane hired about a week after bringing Baker on board as manager in 2020. Although executives and managers around the sport are privy to disagreements, the differences between Baker and Click became public after the manager vetoed Click’s approval of trading for Willson Contreras at the 2022 trade deadline. Crane sided with his manager thereby highlighting the rift that had formed between Click and Baker/Crane. Crane “parted ways” with Click after he won the 2022 World Series and hired Dana Brown as his replacement.
During that season, Brown openly questioned some of Baker’s lineup decisions, but remained committed to granting his manager autonomy in all on-field matters.
Several members of the team’s front office and coaching staff shared skepticism about some of Baker’s decisions – particularly regarding the sporadic playing time of breakout players Chas McCormick and Yainer Diaz – but Baker maintained his preference for experienced players.
It’s hard to argue with the results – Houston won the American League West for the sixth straight time by 162 games and reached the ALCS for the seventh straight year, leading to a furious rally late in September.
Several people felt that Baker should be hired as a special assistant for a team — preferably on the West Coast, where he lives — or by the commissioner’s office as an ambassador for the game.
“Who connects groups of people better than Dusty?” said a longtime baseball friend, to whom Baker told of his intention to retire this year. “I mean, he can talk to anyone from any walk of life. He is DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) personified.”
Baker’s legacy is larger than life. He has been playing baseball since he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1967. He played until 1986 and worked briefly as a stockbroker before returning to the game in 1988 as the Giants’ first base coach. He played with the late Hank Aaron, who beat prostate cancer. His son Darren was a batboy on Baker’s team as a three-year-old and was forever immortalized during the 2002 World Series when he picked up a bat as San Francisco’s JT Snow tried to score in Game 5. Snow picked him up in his arms after he hit home plate and walked Darren back to the dugout.
Darren is now 24 and an infielder in the Washington Nationals system. The Nationals and Astros share a spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, which allowed Dusty to get a first-hand look at his development and estimated times since the father and son were roommates at each of the last two spring trainings.
Darren pulled out the lineup card before a Grapefruit League game between the two teams, surprising his father as he came out of the dugout. In another matchup this spring, Darren hit a grand slam against his father’s Astros team.
After Darren’s season ended in late September, he became more prominent with the Astros, accompanying his father to the team’s final regular-season series in Arizona and throughout the ALCS, perhaps getting one last look at Dusty’s managerial career.
(Top photo by Dusty Baker: Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)