Chicago Cubs: Feelings toward Dusty Baker are still complicated

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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

The Houston Astros hiring former Cubs manager Dusty Baker opens up that can of memories that a great many fans do not always want to remember.

It kind of felt fitting that the Joe Maddon-led defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs took out former manager Dusty Baker‘s Washington Nationals in 2017. The team had avenged the years of goats and black cats the season before faced a member of the franchise’s past which was part of a big chapter in the 108-year long story of Cubs futility.

Baker, now 70 years old, will be taking on another challenge after sitting out 2018 and 2019 in his new job with the Houston Astros. He will be managing his fifth team since he first became a manager back in 1993 with the Giants.

The numbers on his résumé are pretty impressive: a .532 winning percentage, nine postseason berths and 10 seasons of 90 or more wins in 22 years. Baker is following his managerial career after a very successful playing career in which he was a two-time All Star, two-time Silver Slugger and a World Series winner in 1981.

Yet, his reputation is largely based on what has gone wrong in his career as a manager. Most of which includes some brutal postseason losses and his managing of young arms. Resentment toward Baker is probably stronger in Chicago than any other place he has managed in. From the 2003 NLCS collapse, the 2004 regular season collapse, the fall of Mark Prior, and so on.

One question I often ask myself…how much of it was really HIS fault? We can backtrack and look.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: It was a wild ride under Dusty Baker from 2003-2006. They got close to the ultimate goal but it went spiraling down so fast.

It was November 16, 2002 when the Chicago Cubs officially introduced Dusty Baker as their manager. Cubs fans were in disbelief that they were able to snag a successful veteran manager like Baker that was coming off an NL pennant in San Francisco. It was a breath of fresh air to not only see the Cubs bring in top-tier guys, but to hear Baker’s introductory presser which included him saying that the past needs to stay in the past and they should only look forward.

His first season they win the division title behind young studs Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Baker changed the culture to weed out the “lovable loser” mentality. He was well liked by everybody and the city was going around saying, “In Dusty we trusty!” Then the NLCS happened…but even despite that awful ending the optimism was really high going into 2004.

It was 2004 when things started to turn. On top of a terrible collapse in the final days of the season, the team had dealt with injuries to Prior and Wood, popular broadcaster Steve Stone’s criticisms angered Baker and the higher-ups to the point he left after the season ended and Sammy Sosa walked out of the clubhouse which led to him being traded to Baltimore. Despite an 89-win season, Baker was feeling some heat from outside and inside the organization.

Any hopes of a World Series on the North Side were pretty much gone by 2005. They went 79-83 and watched the crosstown White Sox win it all. By 2006, the “Fire Dusty” chants were ringing louder than ever in the bleachers (along with flying beer cups on multiple occasions) as his final season as Cubs manager ended with 96 losses. Prior was toast, the team was dead, and Baker was frustrated beyond words. His contract ended and the team parted ways.

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: Feelings toward Dusty Baker can be complicated considering the type of guy he was and how things turned out.

It is easy to have a lot of angst toward a guy who was supposed to be the savior of the team but ended up arguably leaving it a bigger mess than when he got there. However as wounds have been healed by time (and a World Series in 2016) the feelings of angst can be mellowed.

One thing I can honestly say is that Baker is a hard man to dislike on a personal level. He is a passionate guy who wants to win, treats his players very well and just seems like a down-to-earth nice person. While I was very happy to see the Cubs winning the 2017 NLDS, watching Baker’s presser after game 5 with the look of pure defeat was tough to watch. He has gone through so many brutal losses and his team flat let him down. Really hard to blame Baker for that Nationals series loss.

Some stuff that happened during Baker’s tenure in Chicago was a combination of rotten luck and rosters not constructed well enough. Derrek Lee breaking his wrist in 2006 in a freak accident and Sosa being out due to…a violent sneeze. Who could have thought that would happen? The 2005-2006 rosters had some talent but not enough to contend, especially with Prior and Wood hurt. Bullpen was mediocre with the rotation was being held together with chewing gum and Greg Maddux who was well past his prime. At least they had Carlos Zambrano.

No, this is not going back and saying everything he did was good. Losing the clubhouse in 2004 and grinding Prior’s arm into dust (no pun intended) will always make me cringe. There was no reason to keep Prior in Game 2 to throw over 110 pitches while ahead 12-2. Seeing Baker not take action during that fateful eighth inning in Game 6 until it was too late haunted me until 2016.

Then way things fell apart in 2004 is something a manager has to be held accountable for, you cannot lose your clubhouse and see your team fall like that. Big moments like these will unfortunately overshadow the good he accomplished that first season.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Chicago Cubs: So how do we feel about Dusty Baker today?

Everyone’s take on Baker will be a little different. Some will not get over the shortcomings and some might be able to look past it now. In the end every fan is entitled to their own feelings since we see and feel sports differently.

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For me personally, Baker’s tenure in Chicago will never be seen in an overall positive light, but I cannot put all of that on him and I will not let it bother me much. Again, one of the bigger reasons being that I saw the Cubs win in 2016. Time naturally heals wounds regardless.

Lets face it, there were a laundry list of things that went wrong with the Cubs with and around Baker. Some he could control and some he could not. He was and should be held accountable for what he could control that went wrong and be pardoned by what he could not. That does not seem unreasonable.

Like I said earlier, Baker is an easy guy to root for. If he was a condescending jerk all the time then this is a different article being written, but he is certainly not that. I respect Baker as a man and can acknowledge that he has had a good impact on the sport in his 50-some years in Major League Baseball. He has done number of things well, which is why he has been around as long as he has. He is not a perfect game-manager (nobody really is) and I frankly disagree with some of his methods, but I know his intent and heart is not in a bad place.

Not really much more to say or bother saying, what is done is done.

Next. Cubs bring in yet another reclamation project. dark

How will things go for Baker in Houston? Who knows. The team is still very talented but now living with the punishment of their recent scandal. Baker might not seem like a baseball fit for them, but bringing in a guy to change a culture and be a “players manager” is probably the ultimate goal for the Astros. I wish Dusty Baker well and the best of luck.

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