WASHINGTON — With Spring Training rapidly approaching, fans of the Washington Nationals haven’t had much of a chance yet to get a feel for their new manager. Dusty Baker’s only public appearances have been his introductory news conference, an awkward meeting with the media at baseball’s winter meetings, and onstage as part of the team’s Winterfest.
Tuesday night gave another insight, as MLB Network aired an hourlong documentary, “Dusty Baker: A Baseball Journey.” Filmed recently enough to include both those aforementioned appearances, the program spent much of its time on Baker’s past, but also included a few of his thoughts on the future.
As a baseball legend, Dusty Baker almost seems to exist outside time. His Forrest Gump-ian list of life experiences includes watching from the on-deck circle as Hank Aaron hit his record-breaking home run; he unwittingly gave baseball its first high-five; he smoked a joint with Jimi Hendrix.
As a manager, he has presided over some excellent teams and superstars, and endured some of the game’s most enduring heartbreak. With the Nationals, he’ll inherit some combination of the three.
“The Nationals, you know, they’ve never had a championship,” said Baker during the documentary. “So why not now? Why not me?”
Arguably Baker’s biggest strength has been his ability to manage superstars. He presided over the sometimes explosive Barry Bonds in San Francisco. He guided Sammy Sosa over a late stretch of his career. He had the enigmatic Joey Votto anchoring his Cincinnati lineups as he entered his prime.
And now he’ll have Bryce Harper, with the expectations that he’ll do better than his own protégé — Matt Williams — did the prior two seasons in both bringing the best out of Harper and protecting him.
Former Giants player and current broadcaster Mike Krukow reinforced the idea that Baker is and was a players’ manager.
“He was going to make the players feel as comfortable as they could be to help the team win,” said Krukow.
Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons said the Nationals have lost some swagger in the past couple years, and that Baker is the perfect skipper to give them that back.
But for those hoping Baker might have learned some things about how front offices analyze and process the game during his time away, don’t hold your breath.
“Everybody says new school and old school,” Baker said. “But I don’t see a whole bunch of this new school dominating and doing a whole bunch of winning.”
Baker did not expound in detail which teams he was referring to, either of the new school or old school methodologies, but did discuss a modicum of strategic insights.
“They’re talking about, you shouldn’t bunt, you shouldn’t do this. Well, there’s only one way to play baseball: you play it correctly. And there’s a time to bunt, and there’s a time to go for the three-run homer. And there’s nobody that’s gonna convince me that the way I was taught to play this game, by some of the baddest dudes that ever played baseball, that we were playing this game wrong.”
Pitchers and catchers report for the Nationals’ final season of Spring Training in Viera, Florida Feb. 19.
