Dusty Baker-Former OF Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's & current manager of the Cincinnati Reds-July 5th, 2012

Dusty Baker was a hard-nosed player who hit well in the clutch. He witnessed history from the on deck circle on the night of April 8th, 1974 when he saw Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run.  Drafted out of high school in 1968, he quickly made his major league debut in 1969 and came up to stay in 1972 and hit for a career high .321 average.  Traded to the Dodgers in 1976, he became their starting left-fielder.  He made history in 1978, when he became the 4th Dodger to hit 30 home runs in a season, a feat that no team before had ever accomplished.  He remained with Los Angeles for 7 seasons and won a World Series ring with the 1981 team.  He left the Dodgers in 1984 and joined the Giants for a season before moving on to Oakland where he played his last 2 seasons.  After his retirement, Dusty joined the San Francisco Giants as a coach and became their manager in 1993.  He led the Giants to a 2002 World Series appearance, losing to the Angels who were led by former teammate Mike Scioscia.  After the 2002 season, Baker jumped to the Chicago Cubs and in 2007, Dusty became the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the team he currently manages.

In my last blog, Ron Washington had told me his favorite player was Dusty Baker because, "he took care of me when I first came up."  I couldn't wait for the Reds to come to town so I could mention this to Dusty and I was lucky because the Reds were the first team the Padres played on their next home stand.  My friend Brian and I got to the ballpark early and walked to the Reds dugout and saw Dusty walking out of the dugout.  We got his attention and had him sign my new baseball and a ticket for the game.  I asked Dusty who his favorite player was and he said, "Hank Aaron, because he was the best player ever." I told Dusty I asked Ron Washington the same question and he has said it was you, because you took care of him when he first came up.  Dusty responded, "I did take care of him and I felt the Dodgers didn't play him enough." It was great to hear Dusty's reaction to what Ron said about him.  Here is a picture of the ball Dusty signed: