I always had Hank Aaron tell me to go to bed and go to church.”Ī former Marine, he has a steadiness and assuredness that is admired. So I was never too wild, but I liked to have a good time. “How many guys, 19, 20, 21 years old, a little money in your pocket, a pretty car, and single wouldn’t have been kind of wild, you know what I mean? I believe in having fun, but I also believe in working towards my goal because I had to help support my family. The teenage Baker was nothing like the senior statesman of today. He learned those skills first over playing days that began when the Braves selected the Californian, who admits he “prayed” in hopes of avoiding a deep South hostile to so many Blacks. “I’ve learned that you have to keep breathing because, that sounds corny, but like I tell my players, I go out to the mound, and I tell a guy to breathe because you start hyperventilating and you think you’re breathing, but you’re really not breathing. “Everything depends on the game,” he said. His toothpick total can be as varied as pitch counts. They are made from Birchwood trees treated with tea tree oil and menthol, and mint is his preferred version. “I’ve still got some unfinished business,” he admitted.Īt some point during his dugout years, Baker substituted Tea Tree Therapy Toothpicks for chewing tobacco as his preferred method of stress reduction. As Astros players praised him, Baker said he wants to return. His contract is up and his future uncertain, much like Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, who heads into a free-agent market threatened with a management lockout. I was an outsider,” he said, “But this year, they made me feel like I was one of them and they were definitely always one of me.” “Last year I felt like a substitute teacher, really. He is the king of dugout cool, likely the only big league manager who shared a joint with Jimi Hendrix, as Baker did in 1968.īaker took over the Astros in January 2020 following stints managing San Francisco, the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati and Washington, tasked with guiding and shielding players through the fallout of the team’s sign-stealing scandal. “I haven’t been home since I left in February, so you know I must love these guys and love what I’m doing.”īaker is a throwback to the old days, before designated hitters, steroids, computer-driven shifts and perpetual pitching changes. “I feel terrible because I’m not really ready to go home,” Baker explained later. At the final out, he looked at the celebration, put hands on hips and turned to head back up to the clubhouse. He snapped his head, swiped a fist and muttered after Jorge Soler sent Luis Garcia’s cutter soaring over the left field train tracks for a three-run homer that put the Braves ahead 3-0 in the third inning. But I’m probably a little bit too cool to be a granddad right now.” “So I’m kind of in between a dad and maybe even a granddad. “When I first came in, I was more like an uncle, and then I became more like a dad,” he said.
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