'This is unbelievable:' Astros manager Dusty Baker erases decades of doubt, heartbreak with a World Series title

HOUSTON – It’s nearly midnight Saturday when Dusty Baker plops down, starts to take off his uniform, momentarily closes his eyes, breaks into a wide grin, and just laughs.

And laughs.

“Man, so this is what it feels like?’’ Baker tells USA TODAY Sports. “I always wondered how it would feel. Brother, this is unbelievable, isn’t it?’’

It was more than an hour earlier, at precisely 10:17 p.m., when Baker officially became World Series champion manager.

The Houston Astros, 4-1 winners over the Philadelphia Phillies, stamped their legacy, and Baker erased all of the heartbreak and disappointments in his past.

Baker was being informed in his office that he needs to be back at Minute Maid Park at 9:30 a.m. Monday for the ring sizing. He will then address the staff and families. And at 11 a.m., the World Series parade in downtown Houston will begin.

He was also told that every national outlet in the world now wants to interview him, including “Good Morning America,’’ on Monday.

“What time would that be?’’ he asks.

It hasn’t been set up yet, he’s told.

“Well, all I know is that it’s a morning show, and it’s early,’’ he says laughing.

And, oh yes, he’s asked, don’t leave town too early. Astros owner Jim Crane wants to sit down and have a conversation. Crane plans to officially offer Baker a contract extension in the next few days.

“Hopefully, it’s a raise,’’ Baker said, laughing.

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Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch also quickly pops into his office. The Astros have already promised to give the museum a jersey, but Rawitch asks for two items.

“Can we have your wrist bands,’’ Rawitch asks.

Dusty immediately hands both of them to Rawitch.

“Ok, and by any chance, I know this going to sound crazy,’’ Rawitch says, “a toothpick?

Baker reaches into his desk drawer, hands him one, and Rawitch profusely thanks him.

“It’s been a long time coming,’’ Rawitch says. “I’m so happy for you.’’

Darren Baker, his son who wept uncontrollably in Baker’s arms as a 3 ½-year-old when the San Francisco Giants lost the 2002 World Series, is out in the corridor with his friends. Baker’s wife, Melissa, is with Baker’s closest friends who have travelled from Houston to Seattle to New York to Philadelphia on this month-long journey.

“They’ve been traveling for years to be with me whenever this moment happened,’’ Baker says. “To have him here, and guys spending their money, and getting hotels, and kind of leaving me alone to get my rest. You can tell who your real friends are because they realize how important it was like to me.

“To have my homeboys here, it means a lot. It means everything to have him here with me.’’

Baker, 73, was quite aware that he’s only the third Black manager to win a World Series. He reflected on his journey in the interview room. He’s the only manager in baseball history to lead five different teams to the postseason. He won more games, 2,093, than all but eight managers.

Yet, all he ever heard was that he couldn’t win the big one. He didn’t like young players. He was rough on pitchers.

“This has kind of been the story of my life where people tell me what you can't do,’’ Baker said. “Or even now that my teams won a bunch of games, all I hear about is what you don't do. You don't like this. You don't like young players. You can't handle pitchers. You can’t.

“I’m like, well, damn, what did I do?

“You know what I mean?’’

Well, you know what, Baker ignored all of the ridicule, the hatred, and simply told his closest friends, “I don’t give a damn. I’m going to do my thing.’’

And, oh, how he did it, winning 106 games in the regular season, sweeping the Seattle Mariners in the American League Division Series, sweeping the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series, and now winning the World Series, 4 games to 2, over the Phillies.

Yep, the team that bypassed him in 2019 when he interviewed for their managerial vacancy. He was a finalist with Buck Showalter and Joe Girardi. They chose Girardi. Girardi was fired in June.

Baker is a World Series champion.

“After awhile,’’ Baker said, “I quit listening to folks telling me what I can't do. All that does is motivate me more to do it because I know there's a bunch of people in this country that are told the same thing, and it's broken a lot of people. But my faith in God, and my Mom and Dad always talking to me, made me persevere even more.

“My mom told me a number of times, 'You know to be African American, you got to be twice as good to achieve the same thing. I heard that over and over and over.'’’

This is why Baker, when he saw his son for the first time on the field while standing on the MLB Network, set, he jumped off, and gave him an emotional embrace that lasted 15, maybe 20 seconds. When they dropped their arms, they looked at one another in the eyes, and both were misty.

“How do you like that, son? How do you like that?’’ Dusty said in his ear.

Darren: “I told you, Dad, I told you. I told you that you were going to do it.’’

Melissa, who was standing in front of the World Series platform during the trophy ceremony, quietly stared at her husband in disbelief. She was clutching Baker’s cap that he handed to her. She propped her elbows up on the platform ledge, and listened.

“Unbelievable,’’ she said, “just unbelievable. Look at Dusty, look at that joy.’’

It was the happiest anyone has seen Baker in his managerial career, laughing, talking for nearly an hour with interviews, in Spanish, in English, on TV sets, podcasts, and even for a man who gave Baker a box full of Cuban cigars and took pictures.

It was a day that Baker has longed for his entire managerial career. The day started when the alarm went off at 9:30 a.m. He hit the snooze button. He got up 10 minutes later. He drove to his favorite coffee joint in Rice Village. He stopped off at the shoe store where he had soles replaced on expensive dress shoes. He went to the dry cleaners.

If this was going to be the day, the day he became World Series champion, a man has to look good.

When he arrived to his office, he turned on the music, and listened to Big Mama Thornton, “You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog.’’

Then, it was like a whirlwind. It all happened so fast. And at 10:17 p.m. Central time, right fielder Kyle Tucker went into foul territory, caught Nick Castellanos' fly ball, and it was over.

The next thing Baker knew, there he was being mobbed by his coaches in the dugout, hanging onto the railing to keep from falling, rushing onto the field to join his players, doused and sprayed champagne, and having his players come by and personally thanking him.

“Thank you for everything, thank you,’’ Tucker said. “I love you.’’

Baker, hired in the wake of the Astros cheating scandal in 2020, led the Astros to the World Series his first year, but fell two games shy of the championship last year, and now wins it all.

“Dusty is an incredible, Mount Rushmore-type baseball figure,’’ Astros pitcher Lance McCullers said. “And for us to be able to break through for him, when he was hired after the scandal, he gave us a sense of self and a sense of stability. We were able to continue to grow and blossom under that sense of stability and confidence in our guys.’’

Baker, devastated after being fired by the Washington Nationals when he led them to back-to-back NL East titles, and not knowing whether he’d manage again, really won over his players the first day on the job in spring training.

“He said, 'Listen, I don’t give a [expletive] what happened in the past,'’’ McCullers said. “'I’m going to stand in here with you guys and we’re going to fight. We’ve got a great team and we’re going to win a World Series.'

“It took a couple years, but here we are.’’

Baker couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to remind everyone how many people doubted him. When he was congratulated in the press conference, and was told that everyone believed he was a great manager, Baker immediately interjected.

“By some people’’ Baker said.

Reporter: “I think by most people.’’

Baker repeated himself to make it clear: “Some people.’’

Baker walked out of the press room, and whispered: “All I did was tell the truth. All I ever heard about is what I can’t do. Have I done anything right around here?’’

Baker laughs. What are they going to say now? What’s anyone going to say?

He’s a World Series champion.

He won this for his family. For his friends. For those who helped shape him. And, of course, himself.

“I was counting the outs in the 8th and in the 9th,’’ Baker said, “and then I heard my dad talking to me and my mom and my brother, who passed, and Don Baylor. I was thinking of Donnie today. He's on my wall. And Hank Aaron and Joe Black and Roy Campanella, Jim Gilliam, Al Kaline, all the guys that motivated me and guys that were in my corner. …

“There’s a bunch of people, all over the world, that I think are happy, too.’’

Baker slowly showered, went into the Astros parking garage, where his family and friends greeted him, and they drove to a downtown restaurant, ready for the long-awaited celebration. This is the Astros’ second World Series title in six seasons, but this time, no scandal, no cheating, just sheer validation.

“The boos and the jeers that we got all over the country,’’ Baker said, “it bothered these guys, but it also motivated them at the same time. And it wasn't an us against the world thing. It was more of a come together even closer-type thing.

“What happened before, it doesn't ever pass over completely. But we have turned the page and hopefully we'll continue this run. When I talk to [GM] James Click, and especially when I talk to [owner] Jim [Crane], he expects to win. He doesn't want to go from first to worst in a two- or three-year period. He wants this feeling.

“And I like this feeling a lot.’’

Dusty Baker: World Series champion.

“Those are beautiful words, my brother,’’ Baker said. “Whew, it’s a beautiful thing.’’

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Astros manager Dusty Baker erases doubt. He's a World Series champ.