Advertisement

Dusty Baker is literally bringing families together this offseason

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer
Even though it's the offseason, Dusty Baker still managed to get the job done. (Getty Images/Rob Tringali)
Even though it’s the offseason, Dusty Baker still managed to get the job done. (Getty Images/Rob Tringali)

When you get lost as a child, you’re told to find the nearest authority figure. By that logic, if you happen to get lost at a baseball event, it’s only reasonable that you might seek out the team’s manager.

That’s pretty much what happened at Washington Nationals’ WinterFest. A young boy got separated from his parents while at the event, and found himself on stage with Dusty Baker just a few minutes later.

The young boy pictured above is named Max, and even though he couldn’t find his parents for a bit, he handled himself well. After being separated from his family, Max found an employee working the toy drive at the event, according to the Washington Post. Max’s story reached Nationals broadcaster Bob Carpenter, who made an announcement that Max was looking for his parents. Dusty Baker heard that announcement, and decided to invite Max on stage in order to help him out.

Sure enough, Max’s mom saw her son on stage with Baker, and the two were eventually reunited. But before that happened, Max was able to entertain the crowd for a bit, according to the Post.

Somehow Max wound up with a mic in his hands, and one of the panelists asked him to offer some words.

“I know you’re a great person because you invented the high five,” Max told the manager, more or less, because his father — a baseball nerd and Baker lover — had told him this fact about the Nats manager.

That is actually part of baseball lore. Baker is credited for inventing the high five, amazingly.

After the whole ordeal, Baker met with the family, and gave Max a signed ball and cap to take home. There’s no word on whether the two of them exchanged a high five, but given Max’s smarts in this situation, we can’t imagine he passed up an opportunity to slap hands with the creator of the ritual.

(BLS H/N: Cut 4)

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik