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Home , Al Downing (baseball), Dusty Baker, Ted Sizemore

HistoryCorner

DUSTY’S TRAIL Baker’s career crosses a half-century of milestones BY MARK LANGILL

pend the majority of your adult life from the time he signed his first contract, in , and the his- and Aaron promised Baker’s mother that tory will blend with the generations, he would watch for her son. Aaron of- atS least within the still unfolding scrap- fered the young player advice and lectured book pages of Dusty Baker. him on the importance of practicing his The former Dodger (1976-83) craft. Now, it was time for Baker to look out and current man- for his teacher. ager began his playing career with the At- The Dodgers were in town for Atlanta’s lanta Braves organization in 1967. During home opener, and Los Angeles rookie in- the next five decades, Baker would have fielder Jerry Royster, who like Baker at- ringside seats for an epic home tended high school in the chase, along with the roller Sacramento area, was in- coaster of emotions from an- vited to the informal back- nual pennant races. yard barbeque on the after- In 1974, Baker was 24 years noon of April 8 as friends old and a starting outfielder tried to help Aaron relax on for the Braves during Hank the eve of what would be a Aaron’s final pursuit for Babe historic night. Ruth’s record of 714 career “Hank was going through home runs. Baker already so much, all the pressure of considered Aaron a mentor and hitting home

2016 DODGER INSIDER 43 HistoryCorner

Prior to the 1976 season, (alongside Ted Sizemore) welcomed newcomer Dusty Baker, who came to be a fan favorite in left field. runs,” Baker said. “We knew it was go- ing to be a circus in our first home game of the season because he had No. 714 on Opening Day in Cincinnati. Everyone wanted to see him break the record that night. But during the day, it was a time to relax and not think about baseball.” Milwaukee, his original Prior to the Dodgers-Braves game, both city before the franchise moved to Atlanta teams were briefed by the FBI about securi- in 1966. Baker spent one more year with ty procedures around Aaron, who had been the Braves and was traded to the Dodg- the target of hate mail and death threats as ers, which in Baker’s mind was like coming he approached Ruth’s record. In the fourth home. Before his father was transferred to inning, Baker was kneeling in the on-deck Sacramento, Baker had grown up in River- circle when Aaron hit his 715th side and listened to ’s broadcasts off lefty Al Downing. According to Baker, on the radio. Aaron was already predicting Downing’s After hitting only four home runs in his pitch pattern. When Aaron deposited a 1-0 first season on the West Coast, Baker got a pitch over the left-field fence, Baker stood clean slate in 1977 from first-year manager up from kneeling in the on-deck circle and . He joined , raised his arm in the air. and as baseball’s “I could’ve been the first one at home first 30-homer quartet. He earned MVP plate, but I stayed back,” Baker said. honors in the 1977 National “It was Hank’s moment.” League Championship Se- Baker didn’t know it at ries against the Phillies, his the time, but his first Major biggest hit a in League chapter was nearing Game 2 against Jim Lon- its end. After the 1974 season, borg that keyed a 7-1 victory the Braves traded the 40-year- at , eve- old Aaron to the Brewers so ning the best-of-five series he could finish his career in at one game apiece and

44 DODGER INSIDER 2016 HistoryCorner

In the Dodger clubhouse, Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Brooklyn fan as a kid, visited Baker, who won the in 1980 and 1981. giving L.A. momentum for the pennant. first championship since 1954 with San Baker appeared in three with Francisco holding a 5-0 lead in Game 6 at the Dodgers, capped by a championship Anaheim. When the Angels outlasted the against the Yankees in 1981. Giants in a seven-game thriller, Baker de- In 19 seasons with Braves, Dodgers, cided it was time for a change. Giants and Athletics, Baker compiled a Baker in 2003 moved on to the lifetime .347 on-base percentage with 242 Cubs, a franchise famously yearning for home runs and 1,013 RBI in 2,039 games. its first pennant since 1945 and its first With no previous managerial experi- World Series title since 1908. For the sec- ence, Baker took over the Giants in 1993 af- ond consecutive year, Baker’s team fell just ter serving as the team’s hitting coach. San short in a seven-game series, losing to the Francisco enjoyed a 31-game improvement Florida Marlins in the NLCS. It would be from the previous season. The Giants post- the closest Baker would come to a pennant ed a 103-59 record, but lost the NL West title with both the Cubs (2003-06) and Cincin- to Atlanta by one game in the final season nati (2008-13), where his Reds won two NL before MLB adopted the wild-card playoff Central titles. format. The Dodgers ruined San Francis- Baker in 2016 joins a Washington fran- co’s party with a 12-1 victory in the regular- chise, previously located in Montreal as the season finale in Los Angeles. Expos from 1969-1994, looking for its first Baker became San Francisco’s win- World Series appearance. The Nationals ningest manager during his 10-year made the playoffs in 2012 and reign, which included divi- 2014, and their current roster sion titles in 1997 and 2000. includes reigning NL Most The Valuable Player against the Angels was a and ace Max Scher- managerial matchup be- zer and Stephen Strasburg. tween Baker and his former “They haven’t won a World Dodger teammate, Mike Sci- Series, and I haven’t won one oscia. It looked like the Gi- as a manager,” Baker said. “It ants were headed for their might work out for everyone.”

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