Baseball legend Dusty Baker sits down with Jimmy for a candid, story-packed conversation spanning his life in the game—All-Star outfielder, World Series champion, and three-time Manager of the Year. Dusty relives the Barry Bonds era from a front-row seat, breaks down how elite hitters actually “know” what’s coming, and shares the mindset he learned from Hank Aaron about trusting your eyes, handling failure, and staying ready. He also opens up about representation in the dugout, what it’s really like to get rehired in MLB, and how age and experience still matter in a sport obsessed with numbers.
From the heartbreaks—’02 World Series, the Bartman game, Halladay’s no-no—to redemption with the 2022 Astros, Dusty explains managing under pressure, restoring dignity after the scandal, and navigating the COVID season and hostile road crowds. He reflects on winter ball’s intensity, the economics behind the decline of Black American players, and a deeply personal moment when his young son stepped onto the World Series stage while Dusty was battling cancer. Plus: why he said yes to managing Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic.
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Barry Bonds up close; lessons from Hank Aaron
09:31 Rehiring, respect, and minority managers
11:54 How the Astros job happened & the 2022 run
15:34 COVID season, boos, and rebuilding trust
22:04 Prior/Wood, pitch counts, and the injury era
27:52 ’89 quake Series & toughest losses (Bartman, ’02)
32:37 Fatherhood, cancer, and a World Series moment
41:06 Outro
From the heartbreaks—’02 World Series, the Bartman game, Halladay’s no-no—to redemption with the 2022 Astros, Dusty explains managing under pressure, restoring dignity after the scandal, and navigating the COVID season and hostile road crowds. He reflects on winter ball’s intensity, the economics behind the decline of Black American players, and a deeply personal moment when his young son stepped onto the World Series stage while Dusty was battling cancer. Plus: why he said yes to managing Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic.
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Barry Bonds up close; lessons from Hank Aaron
09:31 Rehiring, respect, and minority managers
11:54 How the Astros job happened & the 2022 run
15:34 COVID season, boos, and rebuilding trust
22:04 Prior/Wood, pitch counts, and the injury era
27:52 ’89 quake Series & toughest losses (Bartman, ’02)
32:37 Fatherhood, cancer, and a World Series moment
41:06 Outro
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Jimmy Rex Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And today in the podcast we have where the all
time great baseball players and coaches mister Dusty Baker. And
he was an All Star as a player multiple times,
also World Series Champion as a player, but it was
really in his coaching career where.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dusty got a lot of fame.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
He's been a part of some of the most famous
teams and moments in baseball history. The two thousand and
three Cubs with the Bartman in incident, the two thousand
and two Giants in the World Series, and then also
in twenty twenty two he took the Houston Astros and
won the MLB title. And so we get into all
that on the podcast, talk about his long and industrious career,
and he won Manager of the Year three different times
(00:39):
as a manager, and he also won the Silver Slugger
twice as the best all round hitter.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In baseball too. So give you a little bit of
an idea who this man is.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So without further ado, let's get to the podcast with
Dusty Baker. Today's podcast is brought to you by Bucked
Up Supplements. You guys, you know doing these athlete podcasts.
It can be a little bit draining sometimes because I
use really do five or six in a day. I
go out to LA and take advantage of my opportunity
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I'm doing it, I'm trying to stay hydrated, but I'm
(01:09):
also trying to stay in shape, and so Bucked Up
Protein they come with me. I actually found them at
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Speaker 1 (01:16):
While I was doing these podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So as you listen today's podcast, just remember that it
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for soult.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Dusty, thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hey, no problem, I'm glad to be here. So it's
a sunny day in LA and I was flying in
and I was like, dang, is that smug or is
that fog? You know what I mean? But it looked
like it was fog, like it's burning off.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's interesting how that works in La the morning. Sometimes
it's not like this beautiful sunrise. It has a kind
of like a gray smogginess.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Clars off by ten oceans right there. Yeah, and you
know I live in and I live in Sacramento and
so sometimes. And I got a place in San Francisco,
and it's like that too, you know, whenever I go there.
But it's you know, it's a little different up there
than down here because it's a warm sun shine here
(02:17):
up there, so it's it's a it's a kind of
a cold, foggy So it's California, you know. Yeah, I
love California. Yeah, And I know a lot of people
moving out and going here there, but I don't worry
about me moving to go to.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, you've had such a crazy and iconic career. You've
been a part of so many really iconic moments in
baseball history. I was going to start, I mean, we're
at this event where Barry Bonds is receiving, you know,
a lifetime achievement kind of award.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You were there in two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I've always said to people, the only thing I can
explain watching Barry Bonds in his prime in twenty twenty one,
twenty two, was in twenty twenty one, excuse me, Tew
thousand and two, especially twousand and one, was it was
like watching Mike Tyson in his prime when he would
box that you could feel the intensity of the moment
through the TV. And the only other time I've ever
(03:06):
felt that from Mike Tyson is with Barry Bonds during
that time, and I just you had a front row
seat to that, you know, just historic time framing baseball.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I would love to hear kind of what that was.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you know, my last year there was was was
two thousand. I went to the Cubs in two thousands.
You were already bet the Cubs by that, Yeah, two
thousand and one, two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
But you still caught him in his prime, I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So heck, yeah, I mean, man, I mean did I
catch him in his prime? I mean, you know, he
came to the Giants in nineteen ninety three, and so
that was my first year with the Giants, and Bobby Bonds,
his father and my prep school hero and idol you know,
came the same year. And you know I knew Barry,
(03:47):
you know, the day he was born, and you know
I heild him, you know with that. Yeah, I mean
my dad was was Bobby Bonds as little league coach,
and my dad used to go pick him up to
take him to practice taking the games, and so I
was always around Bobby Bonds. Bobby Bonds was a hero
in our town. And well, all the Bondses. You know,
(04:10):
there was Rosie Bonds who went to the Olympics. That
was Barry's auntie. There was Robert Bonds who played for
the Kansas City Chiefs. That was Bobby's older brother and
Barrye's uncle. And so the Bondses were it, and so
I was following them around all the time. And so
(04:31):
you know, Bobby Bonds told me. See, I left in
nineteen sixty five, the summer of sixty five. I think
Bobby signed in sixty four with the Giants, and so
I was there when he worked out to sign because
there was no draft at that time. And so you know,
(04:53):
I followed Bobby, and I was a Dodger fan, but
I was also a Giant fan because of Bobby Bonds.
So uh, you know, I followed Barry from Afar, you know,
because I moved to Northern California. But then Bobby, he
also moved to Saint Carlos, Northern California. And I remember
Bobby telling me that, you know, how great a ballplayer
(05:15):
that Barry is going to be. And you know, I've
talked to a lot of fathers, Yeah, a lot of
dads think that most dads think that. But but I
mean this is true, and you know Bobby put it.
I mean, Barry put into work at the time. You know,
his godfather was Willie Mays, which helped Bobby in his
game and which also was passed down, you know, to Barry.
(05:38):
A lot of us passed down to Berry, but a
lot of us Barry learned on his own through osmosis.
And because Barry's a very intelligent and very studious type guy. Yeah,
I mean you may think he's not paying attention, but
Barry doesn't miss anything. And then you know he has
an aptitude to apply it upon command and retain what
he was learned and applied, you know, rather quickly. And
(06:03):
so you know, it was a pleasure to watch Barry's career.
You know, like he started out kind of slow in
Pittsburgh and then you know, he excelled. And you know,
I got a theory that you know, when a young
player comes in, you know, he's an underclassman and he's
playing against upperclassmen. Even though they might be as as good,
or he might be as good or better than them,
(06:26):
you know, they can still trick you, you know when
they're upperclassmen. But when they can no longer trick Barry
as upperclassmen, then Barry was better in his class. And
then now at the highlight of his career, he's playing
against lower classmen. And I mean, this guy knew what
was coming almost, you know, every time. And I was
fortunate enough to play with Hank Aaron at the start
(06:49):
of my career, and Barry and Hank Aaron have a
lot of you know, similarities, and it just.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Is that just a feel for the game, that's just
an instinct thing that then because I saw a video
of Barry Bonds once and he was predicting like twenty
five straight pitches that what was going to be thrown
or something.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Part of us through process of elimination, I think, you know,
you got to know the situation of the game. But
part of it is is is eyesight. I mean they
saw things that, yeah, you know that most people didn't see.
Now only did they see it. They trusted what they
saw and a lot of people may see it, but
they don't trust that they might be right where where
(07:29):
Barry knew what was coming, you know, almost every time,
because he saw ideo secrecies in a guy's delivery. Is
wind up, how he held his hand or you know,
how he looked in his eye where like I said,
through process of elimination and also visual you know, they
get to see things that you know, most people don't see.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
As a manager, how often are you guys looking for
stuff like that? Are you obviously you have your scout
teams and everything, but in game is that something that's
are you mostly trying to just manage?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, the situationally something that I saw because I
played right. You know a lot of managers now, a
lot of them don't, you know, didn't play a lot
of them didn't have you know, the blessing to learn
from Hank Aaron. And even though we saw it, even
though Hank would tell us sometimes you didn't see it
till four or five years later. And Hank used to
(08:21):
tell me, you know, he said, hey, man, do you understand?
I said, yes, sir, I understood every time, but halftime,
I didn't understand a thing. But he told me, and
he knew I didn't understand, so he said, okay, you
may not understand, but just retain what I'm telling you.
And then five six years down the line, you may
see it. And there are a number of times when
(08:43):
I saw the shortstop move, I saw the Smith move.
One day I said, this is what Hank's talking about.
It was five years later, but he told me that
you got to retain it. And you know, so much
of the game is mental. You know, a lot of
us physical, but they're you know, there are some guys
that are just so good gifted that they can screw
it up with that. There's not many like that, you know.
(09:03):
There's not a whole lot of difference between greatness, you know.
And then and then it gets to be, you know,
the mental part and how you handle failure or or
can you apply it upon command or are you late
with it? You know? And if you're late with it,
(09:24):
then you apply it the next day. But if you're
on time with it, then you apply it sometime from that.
Bad Dad bath pitch to pitch.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, well, I think you're the only manager to ever
win a pennant with I believe five different clubs.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Is that is that correct?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah? I mean, you know, so I don't really take
pride in man, you know why because I should have
only been on three or four.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, because there's there's no way that I should have
been not. I wasn't fired. I just my contract wasn't extended. Okay, yeah,
I can watching it. I won. We won ninety five
and ninety seven games that navigate This is what I meant.
It's like, Okay, should I have been let go at
that time? Or Cincinnati we went to you know, three
to the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think they've been back since you
were there? Have they?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No? But it's like that's what I mean. I'm not
really proud of that. But but but but maybe some
of that was caused by me, by asking for more
money or better conditions or or whatever. So it happens.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And but the fact that I mean, you know, you
kept getting hired again, I'm clearly shows that you know,
you understood the game and you were a players coach.
A lot of people talk about that all the time,
like Dusty's a guy you want to play for.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Well, that's the toughest thing to get rehired again, because
especially being a minority, most of times a lot of
minorities don't get rehired.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Is that still a problem in the game today.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
It's a problem in the world. Sure, you know what
I mean. And so especially in the game, you see,
you know how many minorities are managing, and probably three
or four of the minorities are our Latin players. Away
that it's going and I love Latin American players, but
we got to get some more were American born African
(11:02):
Americans in a position too, And I would hope that,
you know, the relative success that I had would show
other people, Hey man, you know we can handle anything. Yeah,
you know, we can achieve excellence at the same time,
which was a question. That's the reason I was hired
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Now Campan has you know, said some derogatory tory things
about the intellect of African Americans, and then Baseball came
looking for They really made me a coach Don Baylor
or coach Cito Gassen and Hal McCrae, and so then
we were managing within a short period of time for
(11:44):
four or five years. But it's been low in the
actions since then.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Priabe was pretty satisfying for you to be able to
have a chance to coach that Astros team in twenty
twenty two. You guys were kind of underdogs a little bit.
You weren't really you know, nobody expected you to win
the World.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Well, you know, something I expected, and I think a
lot of.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
People knew we were good, very talented team, right.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I mean that was most of the time when you
when you take over a team, you know, the second
you know they're not good.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You could argue that you were the best beneficiary of
the the Yes, I was garbage.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Can scandal, and I was a direct beneficiary. And so
it was a situation, like I said, in San Francisco,
you know we were second division. Uh, Cincinnati were a
second division, Chicago were a second division, Washington we were
about five hundred. That was the best team that I
inherited up to that point. And then uh and because
(12:39):
there's no way that if there wasn't a scandal, would
they have hired me and not kept the right Joey
would have just did there? Yeah exactly. I mean you
know they were a j Hinch probably still been. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
But I mean sometimes you don't know when you're going
to get a break. Because I had interviewed with the
Philadelphia Phillies.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Uh so he ended up beating that World Series, right, well, a.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Couple of years, I mean a couple of months before that,
about a month before that. Wow, and then they went
with the you know, with Joe Girardi instead of me,
and my son told me, he said that maybe maybe
God didn't want you to have that job. And then
all of a sudden this job came, uh you know,
to be this was only about two weeks prior to
(13:25):
going into the spring training.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Wow, how did that? How did that come about? How
did they how did you get picture of that job?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well? Actually, I think I got picked by you know,
Jim Crane, who was the owner, trusted what would Bagwell
and Bizio's Cabell said, because they had had played against
me and against my teams, and so you know, I
think they recommended it, you know, I mean, you know,
that's the best way to get a job is if
(13:52):
your boss trust your recommendation, you know, to somebody else.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, especially the people playing against you right.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Right right correct? And so you know I got to
thank them. And you know, I knew in the s
a whole lot better than I knew Bagwell and Visio. Uh,
but I respected him and I knew him because I
knew they were beating us all the damn time. But
you know, you know harbor where you get a job,
or Harbord where you get you know two excellence. Uh,
(14:20):
you know, there are different avenues and different ways to
get there.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, and that was a really important, I think, world
series for the Astros because it kind of redeemed them
from you know, the almost everything else that had happened.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Almost the people in LA and the people in New York,
New York. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, I mean there's those three teams the Yeah, I mean,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Hey man, we go in there, we still get booed
and it's like, hey man, are you booing the uniform
or you booing the person? Because there's only three people
left off that team, and I was there, and two
we got the brunt of it. And he shouldn't have
because I mean, best in mind, everybody said that he's
the guy that was against cheating the most, but he's
(14:58):
the guy that that it gets test eyes and blasted
for it. And I tell you, he's one of the
finest guys that I've ever been around and wanted.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, he's an interesting one because I really enjoy watching
jose Al Touve. But then you got the home run
where he wouldn't let anyone touch his shirt and no
one knows what happened there.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Do you know if that was a man. I mean,
I think they've been watching too many movies.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I think people just want once you've had one conspiracy
against you, right, once you've done one thing.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I mean, they've been watching some Tom Cruise stuffers.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
So you were the fans pretty hard on you guys
when you would play it.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Well, you know something, it was actually easy in the
beginning because we didn't have any fans that first year
because of COVID.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh it was that's right. You got the break of
not having any fans.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I'm telling you, we got the break. And then I
mean even you know, the cutouts are in the stands,
you know, in the front row in Houston. You know
was my son and my grandson. I two dogs.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Is that your son that almost got ran over the Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And so it's like, you know, we we'd come in
to La though, and some of the people, some of
the fans be waiting when we land Nelsonundo back in
the back and they were lining the people like booing
and hissing and stuff. And then once we did come back,
you know, it was really tough in New York because
I think they think that chance and it was bad
(16:26):
and uh Anaheim, you know, but you know, I was
hoping that people would get over it and and and
forgive what probably might have.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Been one of the reasons they picked you to be
the coach.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean, you seem to be like a pretty easy
going guy, somebody that's always been very well respected in the.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Game, and I think they wanted to bring dignity back
to the club.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I mean, they know what they're doing. Yeah, I mean,
you know, people upstairs there, they're they're smarter, and a
lot of people give them credit for, you know, but
like I you know, that was a break for me,
you know, I mean that was a big time break
for me. You know, I was seventy something years old.
And you know how many guys seventy something years old
make X amount of dollars, get a good team and
(17:08):
take them to the World Series. I mean most of
the time, you know. I mean there is an age
discrimination going on in the world and in our country. Yeah,
and so it was I wasn't only playing for me.
I wasn't only planning for you know, the people that
liked me, my fans. I was playing for you know,
(17:32):
all the African Americans or minorities, because that's all I
heard people like, man, I was pulling for you, or
I heard it from you know, people of non color
that were saying, hey, I was pulling for you. Man,
I don't like the Astros, but I like you, and
I'm like, well, okay, yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Well, I think people you know fell in love with you.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean you you know, you had a couple of
tough losses in the World Series in the playoffs, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I mean in two thousand and two with the Danger Series, right.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, that was tough. I mean we had a tough
one in Chicago, yeah, the barbing game, Oh my god.
And then we had a tough one you know, in
Cincinnati to the hitter. Yeah, yeah, big time. And then
we had a tough one in Washington when we when
we had Chicago, and then the interference called a non
(18:21):
interference call that wasn't called, and then the three run scored,
and it's like, man, I mean it's like, you know,
what else can happen.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's so crazy about baseball, right, It's why it's such
a beautiful but crazy, and uh, it's like life.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It's not always fair. Well, things happen is the most
like life any other sport. For sure, you can be
high one day and then low the next, and then
you got to persevere. You had to believe, you know,
And uh, you know, I used to think it was
kind of corny because Lasorda used to always tell us
when I was on the Dodgers, you know, you gotta believe,
you gotta believe, and it's like, you know, and then
(18:57):
I started imagining here I was saying the same thing,
and it is and it is about perseverance and belief
and that's what life's about.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, going back to the I'd love to just briefly
touch on the Bartman game. It's just such an iconic
moment in baseball, right, and the Cubs obviously won their
World Series and you won your World Series, so it's
not as bitter moment anymore. But what was what was
What was that experience being the coach of that team
in that moment when so much craziness is going on,
And that.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Was so big because in Chicago, man, it had been
so long since they had gone to playoffs of the
World I mean the World Series, I mean forever, and
that was my first year there after we had just
lost in two thousand and two in San Francisco and
people ask me why I left. And at the time,
you know, Bill Watsh, I talked to him a number
(19:46):
of times in the past, and he said, Dussy, sometimes
you got to reinvent yourself and you can wear out
you're welcome sometimes. And so you know, that was a
tough decision for me because being living in the Bay Area,
I only had to pack one time, which is going
on the road if we were on the road. But
when you go to another town that you don't live in,
(20:08):
now you got to pack for spring training and then
you got to pack for the full year there. Yeah,
and you're there for like seven and a half eight months.
I mean, that was a major decision. And you leave
your family because your family's in school, your kids are
in school. And so, like I said, I went to
Chicago and I wanted to win bad, you know, and
(20:29):
so you know we had action. But when that when
that play happened, I couldn't see it because then, yeah,
down the line, you can't see down that corner, and
so I didn't see actually what happened because you didn't
sit it on the replay. They didn't have all they
don't have one there at that time. They didn't have one,
and so I couldn't see it until after the game.
(20:51):
And then because I was arguing more because MOI says.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I Louver was hard for sure player.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, you know, I didn't see it, but.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I saw it.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Oh he could have caught that ball, but I saw
that night maybe and uh but uh, you know, we
had actions still win that game because we were we
were coming back from Miami with one game to win.
We were up three to two, and I had my
two horses Woods, yeah, carry Wood, and then and and
(21:23):
Zimbrono had had pitched it before. So that's the main
reason I went to. I chose Chicago a smart movie.
I mean that team was loaded, man, I mean and
and I had visions of Zambrono, Prior and Wood being
like Maddox, uh Glavin and smokes. You know. So sometimes
your plans won't work out the way you wanted.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, what what do you think ended up derailing Prior's career?
Was the injuries that?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah? Yeah, it was the injuries, you know, which I
took the brunt of that. It's like, oh, you hurt
this guy, but then I see the guys now getting
hurt every day.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, I mean every team has a guy on yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, but but back then there's you know, there's a
relative pitch count. Now there's a there's a hard pitch count.
And I don't care if guys there's no hitter in
the seventh, you know, they want him out of there,
but they still can hurt, you know. I mean, if
you're if you're throwing up, Baseball is unnatural overhand, right,
I mean, you know, our arms hang down for a reason,
(22:21):
or else we'd walk around with our arms up in
the air all the time, you know. And that's why
softball pitchers, you know, they rarely have have have sore
arms because that's the unnatural, uh you know way to throw.
But uh yeah, that one, that one really really uh
you know, hurt me some, uh you know, to my
heart because I love those guys and I love you know,
(22:44):
when you see a guy's career derailed, you know, because
the injuries and and also Carrie Woods was down. Yeah,
and you know I hear from those guys, you know, but.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Writers become a really good pitching coach. Now he's really
you know, and I asked him about injuries for the doctors, right, yeah,
for the Dodgers. I asked them that I hear from him.
He sending to Christmas card. I call him sometime and
I'll say, man, he said, Dusky, we do everything we can, but.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
They have like thirteen guys on that il right now.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, I think they went through forty something last year,
you know, And he goes, man, we're doing all we
can to keep these guys healthy, and it still doesn't work.
So maybe we'll come up with something.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Have all the teams you coach, I mean you coach again.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You coach the World Series Giants two thousand and two,
the Cubs in two thousand and three, and other years,
those Reds teams.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah. I talked to Jay Bruce today. He called me
to him and Joey vado A having dinner you know,
tomorrow down in Miami. You know, like it's always cool
when you hear from your players. I bet yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Is that the best part about being a coach?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah? I think so. And so I'm telling you lately
because see my high school coaches, you know, most of
them are have passed on, and so there's still a
couple in my hometown that I try to go by
and see because I knew what they meant to me.
And they they probably spent more time with me than
(24:06):
my than my parents did. Yeah, I mean, you think
about the hours that you spent at practice.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
It's true, you're only home and awake for a couple
hours a day, probably, right, And.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
You know, nobody sits down and has dinner with their
families anymore like we, like we were forced to back
in the day, you know. So like you might see
if you if you see your parents a couple hours
a day when you're not on watching TV or doing
homework or something, that's a lot. But you know, if
you're only practicing two hours day, you're not practicing very long.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, it probably brings great joy to those coaches to
see kind of what you've made of yourself, and you know,
the career.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
You've had, well, you know, they've they've not only had
an impact on your career, at a probably even more
impact on your life, you know, I mean they some
of the things that your parents were trying to instill
in you, they can't. You know, they kind of reinforced that.
And you know a lot of times you'll listen to
the coach before you listen to your parents, because your
(24:57):
parents are the parents. Well, yeah, you know, they're not
gonna make excuse me, they're not gonna make you do laps.
That's true too, That's true.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
How of all the teams you coached, which one to
you stands out? Is not necessarily the best team, but
maybe the one that's most special for you.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Wow, that's tough because I got special guys on every team. Yeah.
And hmm, well, you know a team that stands out
was was probably my first team, ninety three Giants, you know,
because I went from being the coach batting coach to
being the manager, so I knew those guys prior to
(25:36):
being their manager, and I had to create a little distance.
But I didn't want too much distance because you know,
I know those guys, yeah, and they know me. Yeah.
You know. The one thing that was that was tough
was you know, not going to the back of the
bus or the back of the plane, because like I
did when I was a coach, you had to back then,
(25:58):
you know, I didn't have to, but I didn't wanted
to because I felt more comfortable as a player in
the back of the plane, of the back of the bus,
you know, cutting up than I did in the front,
you know, acting like a square up in the front
like you're in charge of as acting like you are,
and so, uh, you know that kind of taught me,
(26:19):
like you know, like I used like a parable kind
of as a coach, you're kind of like an uncle.
You know, you can tell your uncle anything. But you know,
you can tell your dad almost anything. Your uncle may
not like it, but he ain't gonna tell you that. Yeah,
(26:40):
there's a different thing. There's difference. And then and your
dad like, come on, son, you can tell me anything.
I don't think so I can't tell you most things.
But that's that was the difference between being a coach
and you know, I had an excellent bullpen. I mean
I had excellent players, I had speed. I had four
(27:01):
Golden Glovers and three more that either were going to
win them or had them, you know, two twenty game winners.
I mean, this is I mean that one, that one
really hurt because that was my first year of managing.
And then that's the games you know we won one
hundred and three and then Atlanta one hundred.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That was before they basically your team is the one
the reason why they created the.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Wild Yeah I'm telling you no, it really was. Oh yeah,
And so it's like Damn, that's another tough loss.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And I forgot that that was that was your team too, Yeah,
that was my team.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I'm just glad you wanted twenty two because you earned it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, I sure did. But you know, maybe maybe I
wanted three or four times for that. I might not have,
you know, been around that long time, you know, and
it might not have been around that long to hopefully
have some positive impact.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Well, and you won as a player with the Dodgers.
You won as an assistant coach with the Giants in
eighty nine. Yeah, going back to eighty nine series, you
were an assistant coach for the Giants.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
What was that experience? I was a batting coach during
the earthquake.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Man, that was weird. I mean that was you know,
I talked to people back east and they don't want
to come to California because earthquakes. So I'm like, man,
we don't have tornadoes every year, hurricanes. But I had
just you know, gotten separated from my wife and they
were down here and in Woodland Hills in Calabasas, and
(28:23):
so that's what kind of made up my mind to
start coaching, because I really didn't want to coach, and
so my first year there was eighty eight. I was
the first base coach. In eighty nine I was a manager.
I mean I was like, good time to be the
first base coach with Will Clark. Hell yeah and so
and so. Anyway, my daughter, you know, she'd come up
(28:44):
on weekends. She was eight years old, okay, and she
told me, she says, Dad, I'm studying about earthquakes. And
the week before she said, Dad, you know, what do
you do during an earthquake? I'm on the phone with
her and I said, no, what do you do? And
she says, well, you got to either stand in the
door well or you'd get under a desk or something.
(29:05):
And so I felt the earthquake, and I thought of
my daughter, and I got in the door well. I
was eating some banana nut bread, and man, I just
stood there. I didn't panic. I ate my dad nut bread.
When it's shaken, stop that went outside. Then I panicked
because I thought about all that cemant from candlestick that
(29:25):
would have been on top of our top of our heads.
And then she came up the next weekend to finish
her book report, and I took her to the Marina
District in San Francisco, and we went to visit Bob Welch,
my former picture for the A's So around the corner
(29:45):
from Welchie's house there was a three story apartment building
that shook down in the mud to one story. Ohs.
And then my daughter I took pictures and everything and said,
my daughter turned in and then she got a plus
on her part.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
What a crazy experience to be there, right, And then yeah,
it was just so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Well, they were saying that you should have heard the people.
They're like, hey man, the bay Bridge fell out, like
it ain't no way. And then Dave Stewart was going
over who I just talked to a couple of minutes ago.
He's here, And Stu was was a there's a freeway
in Oakland that that that fell and killed a lot
of people. So Stuve's over there every day, you know,
(30:27):
to try to, you know, help some people.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Something was crazy about him is he pitched game one
and got the win, and because of the earthquake he
got to come back and win.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Game three.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Oh my god, that's bad lucky luck. Yeah, because I
think we were going to face well Chee in game
four and and somebody else in game, I mean game
for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
You had to face the race twice in three games.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah. Yeah, we had to face Stu twice and Mike
Moore twice.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, I'll tell you one thing they had. They had a.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Team that was a loaded.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Oh my god. I was like, man, Ricky Henderson, they
come Toseco and it comes Dave Parker, it comes McGuire,
and I was like, Connie Lanceford dined back. I was like, man,
I hope we can beat these guys.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, well, so you from there, I guess.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So you took your first head coaching job was in
ninety three, you said, right, so you had to go
through the strike of ninety four.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Hated it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, well, and as a coach, I'm just I'm imagining
how hard was it to keep the players motivated when
he knew the season.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Might be on the line.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
That was a and Matt Williams was about to break.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Bruce Retts right. He was hit runs left and right.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I was left and right. And I'm telling you and
seeing I had been through every strike that there was
because my first year nineteen seventy two was the first
year of the strike, and so but that that ninety
four was the worst, and when they were going to
use it, you know, replacement players and me and my coaches.
I mean, that is a epitome of middle management because
(32:00):
is at the time our salaries are paid by the
organization and the team house.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You got to be careful.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well yeah, and then our pension and licensing and medical
is paid by the union.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh my goodness, so you look right in the middle
of it.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Time to tell you. And I had to call my
dad a couple of times task say Dad, what do
I do or what do I say?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And one time he told me he said that, he says,
so don't say nothing to learn to be quiet. No, no, no,
he told me, say something, don't say nothing. That's fair.
I'm like that. How you do that? He goes, You'll
think of something and I did.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
That's crazy. Well two thousand and two again, that World Series.
I just remember when your son, you know, you had
to run out and save him.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And was that a That was a series where again
you guys had that big lead in Game six, which
was the toughest defeat of your career.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Was it that game or was it more the Bartman game?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well, you know, the succession of first ninety three was
tough one. And then that game, that game was you know,
was really tough. I mean, people ask me why my
son he was only three years old and seeing I
had had cancer that that winter, and I had a
prostate cancer operation in January of no in December two
(33:21):
thousand one, and so I only had about six weeks
to get ready for the you know, for the season,
and I was still sore, and it was uh. And
you know, when you're going when they tell you you
have cancer, and then the toughest thing is going to
(33:41):
the six month check up, the three months check up,
you know, because you're always fearful that the cancer might
come back. Sure, And so the reason why my son
was out there is because I wanted to give him
everything I could in case my cancer came back. And
people were like, oh, you shouldn't have been out there,
including my mother.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Most have thought it was adorable if it makes but
my mother.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Didn't because my mother told me. She says, she called
me that morning she says, I don't think he should
be the bad boy. I got it.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
She said that that morning.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah, I said, Mom, we can Hell, he's done it
one hundred times. And then when he ran out there.
I went to grab him because see, everybody had a
designated uh bat that they were going to get.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Sure Barry had his kid.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
J T snow Uh Sean Dunstan had his kid and
so very cool by the way. Oh yeah, So my
son asked me. He goes dad, He goes, what do
you do? He says, you don't do them just sit around.
Let's so. So Kenny Lofton was his designated that and
(34:46):
so he ran out there and there's some kid in
there we'd never seen before. He says, I'm gonna get
Kenny Lofton's bat and I was like, no, you're not.
So my son ran out there.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
You have some random kid in the dugout during the
World Series.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, his dad bought it. Oh really yeah, probably some
rich guy that ain't.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Now.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I'll donate to this cause of that, cos I know,
I'm sure laughing. Yeah, So putting my son ran out there,
oh man, So I was think of my mom. I
got back to my office phone rings, but hey, Ma,
how you doing, Dusty? I told you, I said, Mama,
I said, I gotta go. The press is in here,
(35:25):
so oh no, you tell them to wait and they
weren't in there. Yeah, I was just trying to get
her off.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, it's such a again, an iconic career, and I
really love that you got.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
That opportunity with the Astros in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Took adventure because it was a I think a lot
of people again, like I said, it wasn't like it
was a you know, it's you. There was almost like
teams that were more expected to win it all, and
that was really a special team. And you look at
the talent on a team, you know, Kyle Tucker and
Altuve and you know Brown, all these guys. Jordan Alvarez
is probably the scariest hitter. Oh, especially during the playoffs.
(36:01):
Oh yeah, we had a young pain Oh yeah, very well.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah. A lot of times they say you can't win
with a young shortstop or young catcher, you know, because
they're in all the action and especially on defense, thinking wise,
you know, but then he came to a flying car.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
How much in game coaching are you doing in a
game that big like the World Series? You're letting him
mostly play or you you let.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Him play, but you got you gotta like, I don't know, you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Still you're watching those pictures pretty tight.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
No, you still interject things, you know, you know, pitch
is the key in those series. But also you know
when you try this or when you try that, or
when you risk this or risk that, and then you
know there are no real absolute answers on if you're
doing it right or wrong. But the players make it
look like you did it right right, Yeah, and if
(36:53):
they come to boom your teens and if they don't, man, Baker,
what are you thinking about? You know what I mean? So,
but yeah, that's okay, that was I wouldn't trade that.
I mean, that's the one thing that you missed when
you're out of the game. Yeah, you know, you miss
the thrill of uh of competition. Yeah, you know, and
like I could still be doing it right now if
I you know, if I thought about getting back the
(37:15):
game again. No, no, I'm seventy six. Yeah, and uh,
you know the thing about it is I couldn't take
the travel. And and also you get kind of tired
of pre and post game playing, you know, verbal dodgeball,
and all you got to do is say one thing
wrong and it goes viral. True. And so but I
(37:36):
am gonna manage the Nico Rock one team you are.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
In the World Baseball Classic. Yep, awesome. Sore you do
you have nic roots then? Or no, you're just they're
just tap you to coach.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
And Marvin Bernard with my former players.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Okay, yeah, do you have any m MLB guys playing
for him?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I don't know. When I get down there, I think
they got low Issaga and uh you know we're the
last seed. Actually I'm going Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Congrats.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, they've done a great job of that tournament. They
made it feel very intense.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
I mean, and and you know we're in a tough division.
You know, we're down there with well Puerto Rico and no,
Puerto Rico's in another vision, we're with Costa Rica. No,
we're with Dominican Venezuela. Uh Crosow, I mean Netherlands. You
know their whole Netherlands team is from Cursow. Okay, yeah, yeah,
(38:30):
and so yeah it should be fun. You know, for
me playing winter ball, that was probably the most intense
uh uh and fun that I ever had.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Really, where did you play?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
I played in Venezuela, I played Puerto Rico, and I
played in Mexico and see, uh man, you better play. Yeah,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
I mean, here's there's pure where.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
All the talent comes from, you know, I mean it's
it's uh, that's where they're playing baseball.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Oh, they're playing baseball year round.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I was gonna ask you, I mean we talked about
a little bit, but you know, it's still like I
think there's I saw a stat like, so the percentage
of African American players are black players in the game
today versus even twenty years ago, and it has been
on a decline for a while. What how do you
reinvigorate you know.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
We're trying community to We're trying. I mean, the league
has some programs, uh, you know, led by Devin Matthews,
Tony Riggins, Delvin's Gary Matthews Son. Yea, yeah, you know
Jerry Manuels.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Do they consult with you a lot on that just
because of your experience.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Somewhat, But I mean those guys are you know, I
was busy, Yeah, sure, it turns out yeah, yeah, And
you know they talked to me, and I talked to
them because I know them. I've been knowing them for
for a long long time. But you know, we have
to make it possible because economically, That's that's part of
the problem. Yeah, I mean, because I remember my son
(39:49):
was playing travel ball. Now you've got to play travel
ball if you're going to be discovered or get a
Scottars think about travel ball. Well, you know, I'm not
crazy about it, but it's too late. Yeah, you know
that's what's Yeah, and class my wife a few years
ago when my son was playing travel ball. I mean,
they would call me they were in Omahall, then they'd
(40:11):
call me from Phoenix, and they call me from Cooperstown
Like wait a minute, now they don't have any local
American legion right there in Sacramento. And she says, no,
if you're going to want the competition, but then you
got to travel you got to get the balls, the bats.
I mean. And I saw one kid. I bet he
had about three or four thousand dollars with the equipment
(40:33):
on his back. Wow. And you know what if you
have three kids or yeah, two, Yeah, it gets expensive.
So we have to make it possible for everybody to
play it and afford it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
No, I think that's I think it's important for the
youth to just make it affordable for everybody to be
able to be on a level playing ground there. Well, Dusky,
it's been a pleasure to talk to you man, such
an iconic career. Thank you for the time and congratulations
on an amazing professional career. What a beautiful thing to do?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Is is a life? Right?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Play in coach baseball. It's pretty cool, pretty awesome man.
Thank you sir. All right, thank you, Thank you again
for listening to The Jimmy Rex Show. If you liked
this episode, please do me a quick favor.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Just go online, leave us a review, subscribe to our
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(41:32):
we are the day. This is my men's coaching program
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Speaker 1 (41:43):
Several of these episodes we talked to members of this group.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
We talk about this group and If you are interested
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dot com.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Jimmy Rex Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And today in the podcast we have where the all
time great baseball players and coaches mister Dusty Baker. And
he was an All Star as a player multiple times,
also World Series Champion as a player, but it was
really in his coaching career where.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dusty got a lot of fame.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
He's been a part of some of the most famous
teams and moments in baseball history. The two thousand and
three Cubs with the Bartman in incident, the two thousand
and two Giants in the World Series, and then also
in twenty twenty two he took the Houston Astros and
won the MLB title. And so we get into all
that on the podcast, talk about his long and industrious career,
and he won Manager of the Year three different times
(00:39):
as a manager, and he also won the Silver Slugger
twice as the best all round hitter.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
In baseball too. So give you a little bit of
an idea who this man is.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So without further ado, let's get to the podcast with
Dusty Baker. Today's podcast is brought to you by Bucked
Up Supplements. You guys, you know doing these athlete podcasts.
It can be a little bit draining sometimes because I
use really do five or six in a day. I
go out to LA and take advantage of my opportunity
to be able to get these amazing guests. And when
I'm doing it, I'm trying to stay hydrated, but I'm
(01:09):
also trying to stay in shape, and so Bucked Up
Protein they come with me. I actually found them at
a gas station out there and took a few every
single day.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
While I was doing these podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So as you listen today's podcast, just remember that it
is sponsored by Bucked Up Protein Anywhere Bucked Up Products
for soult.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Dusty, thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Hey, no problem, I'm glad to be here. So it's
a sunny day in LA and I was flying in
and I was like, dang, is that smug or is
that fog? You know what I mean? But it looked
like it was fog, like it's burning off.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's interesting how that works in La the morning. Sometimes
it's not like this beautiful sunrise. It has a kind
of like a gray smogginess.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Clars off by ten oceans right there. Yeah, and you
know I live in and I live in Sacramento and
so sometimes. And I got a place in San Francisco,
and it's like that too, you know, whenever I go there.
But it's you know, it's a little different up there
than down here because it's a warm sun shine here
(02:17):
up there, so it's it's a it's a kind of
a cold, foggy So it's California, you know. Yeah, I
love California. Yeah, And I know a lot of people
moving out and going here there, but I don't worry
about me moving to go to.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, you've had such a crazy and iconic career. You've
been a part of so many really iconic moments in
baseball history. I was going to start, I mean, we're
at this event where Barry Bonds is receiving, you know,
a lifetime achievement kind of award.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You were there in two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I've always said to people, the only thing I can
explain watching Barry Bonds in his prime in twenty twenty one,
twenty two, was in twenty twenty one, excuse me, Tew
thousand and two, especially twousand and one, was it was
like watching Mike Tyson in his prime when he would
box that you could feel the intensity of the moment
through the TV. And the only other time I've ever
(03:06):
felt that from Mike Tyson is with Barry Bonds during
that time, and I just you had a front row
seat to that, you know, just historic time framing baseball.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
I would love to hear kind of what that was.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you know, my last year there was was was
two thousand. I went to the Cubs in two thousands.
You were already bet the Cubs by that, Yeah, two
thousand and one, two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
But you still caught him in his prime, I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So heck, yeah, I mean, man, I mean did I
catch him in his prime? I mean, you know, he
came to the Giants in nineteen ninety three, and so
that was my first year with the Giants, and Bobby Bonds,
his father and my prep school hero and idol you know,
came the same year. And you know I knew Barry,
(03:47):
you know, the day he was born, and you know
I heild him, you know with that. Yeah, I mean
my dad was was Bobby Bonds as little league coach,
and my dad used to go pick him up to
take him to practice taking the games, and so I
was always around Bobby Bonds. Bobby Bonds was a hero
in our town. And well, all the Bondses. You know,
(04:10):
there was Rosie Bonds who went to the Olympics. That
was Barry's auntie. There was Robert Bonds who played for
the Kansas City Chiefs. That was Bobby's older brother and
Barrye's uncle. And so the Bondses were it, and so
I was following them around all the time. And so
(04:31):
you know, Bobby Bonds told me. See, I left in
nineteen sixty five, the summer of sixty five. I think
Bobby signed in sixty four with the Giants, and so
I was there when he worked out to sign because
there was no draft at that time. And so you know,
(04:53):
I followed Bobby, and I was a Dodger fan, but
I was also a Giant fan because of Bobby Bonds.
So uh, you know, I followed Barry from Afar, you know,
because I moved to Northern California. But then Bobby, he
also moved to Saint Carlos, Northern California. And I remember
Bobby telling me that, you know, how great a ballplayer
(05:15):
that Barry is going to be. And you know, I've
talked to a lot of fathers, Yeah, a lot of
dads think that most dads think that. But but I
mean this is true, and you know Bobby put it.
I mean, Barry put into work at the time. You know,
his godfather was Willie Mays, which helped Bobby in his
game and which also was passed down, you know, to Barry.
(05:38):
A lot of us passed down to Berry, but a
lot of us Barry learned on his own through osmosis.
And because Barry's a very intelligent and very studious type guy. Yeah,
I mean you may think he's not paying attention, but
Barry doesn't miss anything. And then you know he has
an aptitude to apply it upon command and retain what
he was learned and applied, you know, rather quickly. And
(06:03):
so you know, it was a pleasure to watch Barry's career.
You know, like he started out kind of slow in
Pittsburgh and then you know, he excelled. And you know,
I got a theory that you know, when a young
player comes in, you know, he's an underclassman and he's
playing against upperclassmen. Even though they might be as as good,
or he might be as good or better than them,
(06:26):
you know, they can still trick you, you know when
they're upperclassmen. But when they can no longer trick Barry
as upperclassmen, then Barry was better in his class. And
then now at the highlight of his career, he's playing
against lower classmen. And I mean, this guy knew what
was coming almost, you know, every time. And I was
fortunate enough to play with Hank Aaron at the start
(06:49):
of my career, and Barry and Hank Aaron have a
lot of you know, similarities, and it just.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Is that just a feel for the game, that's just
an instinct thing that then because I saw a video
of Barry Bonds once and he was predicting like twenty
five straight pitches that what was going to be thrown
or something.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It was crazy.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Part of us through process of elimination, I think, you know,
you got to know the situation of the game. But
part of it is is is eyesight. I mean they
saw things that, yeah, you know that most people didn't see.
Now only did they see it. They trusted what they
saw and a lot of people may see it, but
they don't trust that they might be right where where
(07:29):
Barry knew what was coming, you know, almost every time,
because he saw ideo secrecies in a guy's delivery. Is
wind up, how he held his hand or you know,
how he looked in his eye where like I said,
through process of elimination and also visual you know, they
get to see things that you know, most people don't see.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
As a manager, how often are you guys looking for
stuff like that? Are you obviously you have your scout
teams and everything, but in game is that something that's
are you mostly trying to just manage?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know, the situationally something that I saw because I
played right. You know a lot of managers now, a
lot of them don't, you know, didn't play a lot
of them didn't have you know, the blessing to learn
from Hank Aaron. And even though we saw it, even
though Hank would tell us sometimes you didn't see it
till four or five years later. And Hank used to
(08:21):
tell me, you know, he said, hey, man, do you understand?
I said, yes, sir, I understood every time, but halftime,
I didn't understand a thing. But he told me, and
he knew I didn't understand, so he said, okay, you
may not understand, but just retain what I'm telling you.
And then five six years down the line, you may
see it. And there are a number of times when
(08:43):
I saw the shortstop move, I saw the Smith move.
One day I said, this is what Hank's talking about.
It was five years later, but he told me that
you got to retain it. And you know, so much
of the game is mental. You know, a lot of
us physical, but they're you know, there are some guys
that are just so good gifted that they can screw
it up with that. There's not many like that, you know.
(09:03):
There's not a whole lot of difference between greatness, you know.
And then and then it gets to be, you know,
the mental part and how you handle failure or or
can you apply it upon command or are you late
with it? You know? And if you're late with it,
(09:24):
then you apply it the next day. But if you're
on time with it, then you apply it sometime from that.
Bad Dad bath pitch to pitch.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, well, I think you're the only manager to ever
win a pennant with I believe five different clubs.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Is that is that correct?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah? I mean, you know, so I don't really take
pride in man, you know why because I should have
only been on three or four.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, because there's there's no way that I should have
been not. I wasn't fired. I just my contract wasn't extended. Okay, yeah,
I can watching it. I won. We won ninety five
and ninety seven games that navigate This is what I meant.
It's like, Okay, should I have been let go at
that time? Or Cincinnati we went to you know, three
to the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, yeah, I don't think they've been back since you
were there? Have they?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No? But it's like that's what I mean. I'm not
really proud of that. But but but but maybe some
of that was caused by me, by asking for more
money or better conditions or or whatever. So it happens.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
And but the fact that I mean, you know, you
kept getting hired again, I'm clearly shows that you know,
you understood the game and you were a players coach.
A lot of people talk about that all the time,
like Dusty's a guy you want to play for.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Well, that's the toughest thing to get rehired again, because
especially being a minority, most of times a lot of
minorities don't get rehired.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Is that still a problem in the game today.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
It's a problem in the world. Sure, you know what
I mean. And so especially in the game, you see,
you know how many minorities are managing, and probably three
or four of the minorities are our Latin players. Away
that it's going and I love Latin American players, but
we got to get some more were American born African
(11:02):
Americans in a position too, And I would hope that,
you know, the relative success that I had would show
other people, Hey man, you know we can handle anything. Yeah,
you know, we can achieve excellence at the same time,
which was a question. That's the reason I was hired
in the first place.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Now Campan has you know, said some derogatory tory things
about the intellect of African Americans, and then Baseball came
looking for They really made me a coach Don Baylor
or coach Cito Gassen and Hal McCrae, and so then
we were managing within a short period of time for
(11:44):
four or five years. But it's been low in the
actions since then.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Priabe was pretty satisfying for you to be able to
have a chance to coach that Astros team in twenty
twenty two. You guys were kind of underdogs a little bit.
You weren't really you know, nobody expected you to win
the World.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Well, you know, something I expected, and I think a
lot of.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
People knew we were good, very talented team, right.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I mean that was most of the time when you
when you take over a team, you know, the second
you know they're not good.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
You could argue that you were the best beneficiary of
the the Yes, I was garbage.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Can scandal, and I was a direct beneficiary. And so
it was a situation, like I said, in San Francisco,
you know we were second division. Uh, Cincinnati were a
second division, Chicago were a second division, Washington we were
about five hundred. That was the best team that I
inherited up to that point. And then uh and because
(12:39):
there's no way that if there wasn't a scandal, would
they have hired me and not kept the right Joey
would have just did there? Yeah exactly. I mean you
know they were a j Hinch probably still been. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
So it was.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
But I mean sometimes you don't know when you're going
to get a break. Because I had interviewed with the
Philadelphia Phillies.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Uh so he ended up beating that World Series, right, well, a.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Couple of years, I mean a couple of months before that,
about a month before that. Wow, and then they went
with the you know, with Joe Girardi instead of me,
and my son told me, he said that maybe maybe
God didn't want you to have that job. And then
all of a sudden this job came, uh you know,
to be this was only about two weeks prior to
(13:25):
going into the spring training.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Wow, how did that? How did that come about? How
did they how did you get picture of that job?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Well? Actually, I think I got picked by you know,
Jim Crane, who was the owner, trusted what would Bagwell
and Bizio's Cabell said, because they had had played against
me and against my teams, and so you know, I
think they recommended it, you know, I mean, you know,
that's the best way to get a job is if
(13:52):
your boss trust your recommendation, you know, to somebody else.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, especially the people playing against you right.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Right right correct? And so you know I got to
thank them. And you know, I knew in the s
a whole lot better than I knew Bagwell and Visio. Uh,
but I respected him and I knew him because I
knew they were beating us all the damn time. But
you know, you know harbor where you get a job,
or Harbord where you get you know two excellence. Uh,
(14:20):
you know, there are different avenues and different ways to
get there.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, and that was a really important, I think, world
series for the Astros because it kind of redeemed them
from you know, the almost everything else that had happened.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Almost the people in LA and the people in New York,
New York. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, I mean there's those three teams the Yeah, I mean,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Hey man, we go in there, we still get booed
and it's like, hey man, are you booing the uniform
or you booing the person? Because there's only three people
left off that team, and I was there, and two
we got the brunt of it. And he shouldn't have
because I mean, best in mind, everybody said that he's
the guy that was against cheating the most, but he's
(14:58):
the guy that that it gets test eyes and blasted
for it. And I tell you, he's one of the
finest guys that I've ever been around and wanted.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, he's an interesting one because I really enjoy watching
jose Al Touve. But then you got the home run
where he wouldn't let anyone touch his shirt and no
one knows what happened there.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Do you know if that was a man. I mean,
I think they've been watching too many movies.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I think people just want once you've had one conspiracy
against you, right, once you've done one thing.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I mean, they've been watching some Tom Cruise stuffers.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
So you were the fans pretty hard on you guys
when you would play it.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Well, you know something, it was actually easy in the
beginning because we didn't have any fans that first year
because of COVID.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Oh it was that's right. You got the break of
not having any fans.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I'm telling you, we got the break. And then I
mean even you know, the cutouts are in the stands,
you know, in the front row in Houston. You know
was my son and my grandson. I two dogs.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Is that your son that almost got ran over the Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And so it's like, you know, we we'd come in
to La though, and some of the people, some of
the fans be waiting when we land Nelsonundo back in
the back and they were lining the people like booing
and hissing and stuff. And then once we did come back,
you know, it was really tough in New York because
I think they think that chance and it was bad
(16:26):
and uh Anaheim, you know, but you know, I was
hoping that people would get over it and and and
forgive what probably might have.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Been one of the reasons they picked you to be
the coach.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I mean, you seem to be like a pretty easy
going guy, somebody that's always been very well respected in the.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Game, and I think they wanted to bring dignity back
to the club.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I mean, they know what they're doing. Yeah, I mean,
you know, people upstairs there, they're they're smarter, and a
lot of people give them credit for, you know, but
like I you know, that was a break for me,
you know, I mean that was a big time break
for me. You know, I was seventy something years old.
And you know how many guys seventy something years old
make X amount of dollars, get a good team and
(17:08):
take them to the World Series. I mean most of
the time, you know. I mean there is an age
discrimination going on in the world and in our country. Yeah,
and so it was I wasn't only playing for me.
I wasn't only planning for you know, the people that
liked me, my fans. I was playing for you know,
(17:32):
all the African Americans or minorities, because that's all I
heard people like, man, I was pulling for you, or
I heard it from you know, people of non color
that were saying, hey, I was pulling for you. Man,
I don't like the Astros, but I like you, and
I'm like, well, okay, yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Well, I think people you know fell in love with you.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean you you know, you had a couple of
tough losses in the World Series in the playoffs, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I mean in two thousand and two with the Danger Series, right.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, that was tough. I mean we had a tough
one in Chicago, yeah, the barbing game, Oh my god.
And then we had a tough one you know, in
Cincinnati to the hitter. Yeah, yeah, big time. And then
we had a tough one in Washington when we when
we had Chicago, and then the interference called a non
(18:21):
interference call that wasn't called, and then the three run scored,
and it's like, man, I mean it's like, you know,
what else can happen.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's so crazy about baseball, right, It's why it's such
a beautiful but crazy, and uh, it's like life.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It's not always fair. Well, things happen is the most
like life any other sport. For sure, you can be
high one day and then low the next, and then
you got to persevere. You had to believe, you know,
And uh, you know, I used to think it was
kind of corny because Lasorda used to always tell us
when I was on the Dodgers, you know, you gotta believe,
you gotta believe, and it's like, you know, and then
(18:57):
I started imagining here I was saying the same thing,
and it is and it is about perseverance and belief
and that's what life's about.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, going back to the I'd love to just briefly
touch on the Bartman game. It's just such an iconic
moment in baseball, right, and the Cubs obviously won their
World Series and you won your World Series, so it's
not as bitter moment anymore. But what was what was
What was that experience being the coach of that team
in that moment when so much craziness is going on,
And that.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Was so big because in Chicago, man, it had been
so long since they had gone to playoffs of the
World I mean the World Series, I mean forever, and
that was my first year there after we had just
lost in two thousand and two in San Francisco and
people ask me why I left. And at the time,
you know, Bill Watsh, I talked to him a number
(19:46):
of times in the past, and he said, Dussy, sometimes
you got to reinvent yourself and you can wear out
you're welcome sometimes. And so you know, that was a
tough decision for me because being living in the Bay Area,
I only had to pack one time, which is going
on the road if we were on the road. But
when you go to another town that you don't live in,
(20:08):
now you got to pack for spring training and then
you got to pack for the full year there. Yeah,
and you're there for like seven and a half eight months.
I mean, that was a major decision. And you leave
your family because your family's in school, your kids are
in school. And so, like I said, I went to
Chicago and I wanted to win bad, you know, and
(20:29):
so you know we had action. But when that when
that play happened, I couldn't see it because then, yeah,
down the line, you can't see down that corner, and
so I didn't see actually what happened because you didn't
sit it on the replay. They didn't have all they
don't have one there at that time. They didn't have one,
and so I couldn't see it until after the game.
(20:51):
And then because I was arguing more because MOI says.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I Louver was hard for sure player.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, you know, I didn't see it, but.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I saw it.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Oh he could have caught that ball, but I saw
that night maybe and uh but uh, you know, we
had actions still win that game because we were we
were coming back from Miami with one game to win.
We were up three to two, and I had my
two horses Woods, yeah, carry Wood, and then and and
(21:23):
Zimbrono had had pitched it before. So that's the main
reason I went to. I chose Chicago a smart movie.
I mean that team was loaded, man, I mean and
and I had visions of Zambrono, Prior and Wood being
like Maddox, uh Glavin and smokes. You know. So sometimes
your plans won't work out the way you wanted.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, what what do you think ended up derailing Prior's career?
Was the injuries that?
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah? Yeah, it was the injuries, you know, which I
took the brunt of that. It's like, oh, you hurt
this guy, but then I see the guys now getting
hurt every day.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, I mean every team has a guy on yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yeah, but but back then there's you know, there's a
relative pitch count. Now there's a there's a hard pitch count.
And I don't care if guys there's no hitter in
the seventh, you know, they want him out of there,
but they still can hurt, you know. I mean, if
you're if you're throwing up, Baseball is unnatural overhand, right,
I mean, you know, our arms hang down for a reason,
(22:21):
or else we'd walk around with our arms up in
the air all the time, you know. And that's why
softball pitchers, you know, they rarely have have have sore
arms because that's the unnatural, uh you know way to throw.
But uh yeah, that one, that one really really uh
you know, hurt me some, uh you know, to my
heart because I love those guys and I love you know,
(22:44):
when you see a guy's career derailed, you know, because
the injuries and and also Carrie Woods was down. Yeah,
and you know I hear from those guys, you know, but.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Writers become a really good pitching coach. Now he's really
you know, and I asked him about injuries for the doctors, right, yeah,
for the Dodgers. I asked them that I hear from him.
He sending to Christmas card. I call him sometime and
I'll say, man, he said, Dusky, we do everything we can, but.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
They have like thirteen guys on that il right now.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, I think they went through forty something last year,
you know, And he goes, man, we're doing all we
can to keep these guys healthy, and it still doesn't work.
So maybe we'll come up with something.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Have all the teams you coach, I mean you coach again.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
You coach the World Series Giants two thousand and two,
the Cubs in two thousand and three, and other years,
those Reds teams.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah. I talked to Jay Bruce today. He called me
to him and Joey vado A having dinner you know,
tomorrow down in Miami. You know, like it's always cool
when you hear from your players. I bet yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Is that the best part about being a coach?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah? I think so. And so I'm telling you lately
because see my high school coaches, you know, most of
them are have passed on, and so there's still a
couple in my hometown that I try to go by
and see because I knew what they meant to me.
And they they probably spent more time with me than
(24:06):
my than my parents did. Yeah, I mean, you think
about the hours that you spent at practice.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
It's true, you're only home and awake for a couple
hours a day, probably, right, And.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
You know, nobody sits down and has dinner with their
families anymore like we, like we were forced to back
in the day, you know. So like you might see
if you if you see your parents a couple hours
a day when you're not on watching TV or doing
homework or something, that's a lot. But you know, if
you're only practicing two hours day, you're not practicing very long.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, it probably brings great joy to those coaches to
see kind of what you've made of yourself, and you know,
the career.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
You've had, well, you know, they've they've not only had
an impact on your career, at a probably even more
impact on your life, you know, I mean they some
of the things that your parents were trying to instill
in you, they can't. You know, they kind of reinforced that.
And you know a lot of times you'll listen to
the coach before you listen to your parents, because your
(24:57):
parents are the parents. Well, yeah, you know, they're not
gonna make excuse me, they're not gonna make you do laps.
That's true too, That's true.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
How of all the teams you coached, which one to
you stands out? Is not necessarily the best team, but
maybe the one that's most special for you.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Wow, that's tough because I got special guys on every team. Yeah.
And hmm, well, you know a team that stands out
was was probably my first team, ninety three Giants, you know,
because I went from being the coach batting coach to
being the manager, so I knew those guys prior to
(25:36):
being their manager, and I had to create a little distance.
But I didn't want too much distance because you know,
I know those guys, yeah, and they know me. Yeah.
You know. The one thing that was that was tough
was you know, not going to the back of the
bus or the back of the plane, because like I
did when I was a coach, you had to back then,
(25:58):
you know, I didn't have to, but I didn't wanted
to because I felt more comfortable as a player in
the back of the plane, of the back of the bus,
you know, cutting up than I did in the front,
you know, acting like a square up in the front
like you're in charge of as acting like you are,
and so, uh, you know that kind of taught me,
(26:19):
like you know, like I used like a parable kind
of as a coach, you're kind of like an uncle.
You know, you can tell your uncle anything. But you know,
you can tell your dad almost anything. Your uncle may
not like it, but he ain't gonna tell you that. Yeah,
(26:40):
there's a different thing. There's difference. And then and your
dad like, come on, son, you can tell me anything.
I don't think so I can't tell you most things.
But that's that was the difference between being a coach
and you know, I had an excellent bullpen. I mean
I had excellent players, I had speed. I had four
(27:01):
Golden Glovers and three more that either were going to
win them or had them, you know, two twenty game winners.
I mean, this is I mean that one, that one
really hurt because that was my first year of managing.
And then that's the games you know we won one
hundred and three and then Atlanta one hundred.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That was before they basically your team is the one
the reason why they created the.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Wild Yeah I'm telling you no, it really was. Oh yeah,
And so it's like Damn, that's another tough loss.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And I forgot that that was that was your team too, Yeah,
that was my team.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I'm just glad you wanted twenty two because you earned it.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, I sure did. But you know, maybe maybe I
wanted three or four times for that. I might not have,
you know, been around that long time, you know, and
it might not have been around that long to hopefully
have some positive impact.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Well, and you won as a player with the Dodgers.
You won as an assistant coach with the Giants in
eighty nine. Yeah, going back to eighty nine series, you
were an assistant coach for the Giants.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
What was that experience? I was a batting coach during
the earthquake.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Man, that was weird. I mean that was you know,
I talked to people back east and they don't want
to come to California because earthquakes. So I'm like, man,
we don't have tornadoes every year, hurricanes. But I had
just you know, gotten separated from my wife and they
were down here and in Woodland Hills in Calabasas, and
(28:23):
so that's what kind of made up my mind to
start coaching, because I really didn't want to coach, and
so my first year there was eighty eight. I was
the first base coach. In eighty nine I was a manager.
I mean I was like, good time to be the
first base coach with Will Clark. Hell yeah and so
and so. Anyway, my daughter, you know, she'd come up
(28:44):
on weekends. She was eight years old, okay, and she
told me, she says, Dad, I'm studying about earthquakes. And
the week before she said, Dad, you know, what do
you do during an earthquake? I'm on the phone with
her and I said, no, what do you do? And
she says, well, you got to either stand in the
door well or you'd get under a desk or something.
(29:05):
And so I felt the earthquake, and I thought of
my daughter, and I got in the door well. I
was eating some banana nut bread, and man, I just
stood there. I didn't panic. I ate my dad nut bread.
When it's shaken, stop that went outside. Then I panicked
because I thought about all that cemant from candlestick that
(29:25):
would have been on top of our top of our heads.
And then she came up the next weekend to finish
her book report, and I took her to the Marina
District in San Francisco, and we went to visit Bob Welch,
my former picture for the A's So around the corner
(29:45):
from Welchie's house there was a three story apartment building
that shook down in the mud to one story. Ohs.
And then my daughter I took pictures and everything and said,
my daughter turned in and then she got a plus
on her part.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
What a crazy experience to be there, right, And then yeah,
it was just so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Well, they were saying that you should have heard the people.
They're like, hey man, the bay Bridge fell out, like
it ain't no way. And then Dave Stewart was going
over who I just talked to a couple of minutes ago.
He's here, And Stu was was a there's a freeway
in Oakland that that that fell and killed a lot
of people. So Stuve's over there every day, you know,
(30:27):
to try to, you know, help some people.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Something was crazy about him is he pitched game one
and got the win, and because of the earthquake he
got to come back and win.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Game three.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Oh my god, that's bad lucky luck. Yeah, because I
think we were going to face well Chee in game
four and and somebody else in game, I mean game
for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
You had to face the race twice in three games.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah. Yeah, we had to face Stu twice and Mike
Moore twice.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, I'll tell you one thing they had. They had a.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Team that was a loaded.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Oh my god. I was like, man, Ricky Henderson, they
come Toseco and it comes Dave Parker, it comes McGuire,
and I was like, Connie Lanceford dined back. I was like, man,
I hope we can beat these guys.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, well, so you from there, I guess.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So you took your first head coaching job was in
ninety three, you said, right, so you had to go
through the strike of ninety four.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Hated it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, well, and as a coach, I'm just I'm imagining
how hard was it to keep the players motivated when
he knew the season.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Might be on the line.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
That was a and Matt Williams was about to break.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Bruce Retts right. He was hit runs left and right.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I was left and right. And I'm telling you and
seeing I had been through every strike that there was
because my first year nineteen seventy two was the first
year of the strike, and so but that that ninety
four was the worst, and when they were going to
use it, you know, replacement players and me and my coaches.
I mean, that is a epitome of middle management because
(32:00):
is at the time our salaries are paid by the
organization and the team house.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
You got to be careful.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Well yeah, and then our pension and licensing and medical
is paid by the union.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh my goodness, so you look right in the middle
of it.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Time to tell you. And I had to call my
dad a couple of times task say Dad, what do
I do or what do I say?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And one time he told me he said that, he says,
so don't say nothing to learn to be quiet. No, no, no,
he told me, say something, don't say nothing. That's fair.
I'm like that. How you do that? He goes, You'll
think of something and I did.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
That's crazy. Well two thousand and two again, that World Series.
I just remember when your son, you know, you had
to run out and save him.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And was that a That was a series where again
you guys had that big lead in Game six, which
was the toughest defeat of your career.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Was it that game or was it more the Bartman game?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Well, you know, the succession of first ninety three was
tough one. And then that game, that game was you know,
was really tough. I mean, people ask me why my
son he was only three years old and seeing I
had had cancer that that winter, and I had a
prostate cancer operation in January of no in December two
(33:21):
thousand one, and so I only had about six weeks
to get ready for the you know, for the season,
and I was still sore, and it was uh. And
you know, when you're going when they tell you you
have cancer, and then the toughest thing is going to
(33:41):
the six month check up, the three months check up,
you know, because you're always fearful that the cancer might
come back. Sure, And so the reason why my son
was out there is because I wanted to give him
everything I could in case my cancer came back. And
people were like, oh, you shouldn't have been out there,
including my mother.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Most have thought it was adorable if it makes but
my mother.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Didn't because my mother told me. She says, she called
me that morning she says, I don't think he should
be the bad boy. I got it.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
She said that that morning.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Yeah, I said, Mom, we can Hell, he's done it
one hundred times. And then when he ran out there.
I went to grab him because see, everybody had a
designated uh bat that they were going to get.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Sure Barry had his kid.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
J T snow Uh Sean Dunstan had his kid and
so very cool by the way. Oh yeah, So my
son asked me. He goes dad, He goes, what do
you do? He says, you don't do them just sit around.
Let's so. So Kenny Lofton was his designated that and
(34:46):
so he ran out there and there's some kid in
there we'd never seen before. He says, I'm gonna get
Kenny Lofton's bat and I was like, no, you're not.
So my son ran out there.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
You have some random kid in the dugout during the
World Series.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, his dad bought it. Oh really yeah, probably some
rich guy that ain't.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Now.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
I'll donate to this cause of that, cos I know,
I'm sure laughing. Yeah, So putting my son ran out there,
oh man, So I was think of my mom. I
got back to my office phone rings, but hey, Ma,
how you doing, Dusty? I told you, I said, Mama,
I said, I gotta go. The press is in here,
(35:25):
so oh no, you tell them to wait and they
weren't in there. Yeah, I was just trying to get
her off.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Well, it's such a again, an iconic career, and I
really love that you got.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
That opportunity with the Astros in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Took adventure because it was a I think a lot
of people again, like I said, it wasn't like it
was a you know, it's you. There was almost like
teams that were more expected to win it all, and
that was really a special team. And you look at
the talent on a team, you know, Kyle Tucker and
Altuve and you know Brown, all these guys. Jordan Alvarez
is probably the scariest hitter. Oh, especially during the playoffs.
(36:01):
Oh yeah, we had a young pain Oh yeah, very well.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah. A lot of times they say you can't win
with a young shortstop or young catcher, you know, because
they're in all the action and especially on defense, thinking wise,
you know, but then he came to a flying car.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
How much in game coaching are you doing in a
game that big like the World Series? You're letting him
mostly play or you you let.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Him play, but you got you gotta like, I don't know, you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Still you're watching those pictures pretty tight.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
No, you still interject things, you know, you know, pitch
is the key in those series. But also you know
when you try this or when you try that, or
when you risk this or risk that, and then you
know there are no real absolute answers on if you're
doing it right or wrong. But the players make it
look like you did it right right, Yeah, and if
(36:53):
they come to boom your teens and if they don't, man, Baker,
what are you thinking about? You know what I mean? So,
but yeah, that's okay, that was I wouldn't trade that.
I mean, that's the one thing that you missed when
you're out of the game. Yeah, you know, you miss
the thrill of uh of competition. Yeah, you know, and
like I could still be doing it right now if
I you know, if I thought about getting back the
(37:15):
game again. No, no, I'm seventy six. Yeah, and uh,
you know the thing about it is I couldn't take
the travel. And and also you get kind of tired
of pre and post game playing, you know, verbal dodgeball,
and all you got to do is say one thing
wrong and it goes viral. True. And so but I
(37:36):
am gonna manage the Nico Rock one team you are.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
In the World Baseball Classic. Yep, awesome. Sore you do
you have nic roots then? Or no, you're just they're
just tap you to coach.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
And Marvin Bernard with my former players.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Okay, yeah, do you have any m MLB guys playing
for him?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I don't know. When I get down there, I think
they got low Issaga and uh you know we're the
last seed. Actually I'm going Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Congrats.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Yeah, they've done a great job of that tournament. They
made it feel very intense.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
I mean, and and you know we're in a tough division.
You know, we're down there with well Puerto Rico and no,
Puerto Rico's in another vision, we're with Costa Rica. No,
we're with Dominican Venezuela. Uh Crosow, I mean Netherlands. You
know their whole Netherlands team is from Cursow. Okay, yeah, yeah,
(38:30):
and so yeah it should be fun. You know, for
me playing winter ball, that was probably the most intense
uh uh and fun that I ever had.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Really, where did you play?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
I played in Venezuela, I played Puerto Rico, and I
played in Mexico and see, uh man, you better play. Yeah,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
I mean, here's there's pure where.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
All the talent comes from, you know, I mean it's
it's uh, that's where they're playing baseball.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Oh, they're playing baseball year round.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I was gonna ask you, I mean we talked about
a little bit, but you know, it's still like I
think there's I saw a stat like, so the percentage
of African American players are black players in the game
today versus even twenty years ago, and it has been
on a decline for a while. What how do you
reinvigorate you know.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
We're trying community to We're trying. I mean, the league
has some programs, uh, you know, led by Devin Matthews,
Tony Riggins, Delvin's Gary Matthews Son. Yea, yeah, you know
Jerry Manuels.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Do they consult with you a lot on that just
because of your experience.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Somewhat, But I mean those guys are you know, I
was busy, Yeah, sure, it turns out yeah, yeah, And
you know they talked to me, and I talked to
them because I know them. I've been knowing them for
for a long long time. But you know, we have
to make it possible because economically, That's that's part of
the problem. Yeah, I mean, because I remember my son
(39:49):
was playing travel ball. Now you've got to play travel
ball if you're going to be discovered or get a
Scottars think about travel ball. Well, you know, I'm not
crazy about it, but it's too late. Yeah, you know
that's what's Yeah, and class my wife a few years
ago when my son was playing travel ball. I mean,
they would call me they were in Omahall, then they'd
(40:11):
call me from Phoenix, and they call me from Cooperstown
Like wait a minute, now they don't have any local
American legion right there in Sacramento. And she says, no,
if you're going to want the competition, but then you
got to travel you got to get the balls, the bats.
I mean. And I saw one kid. I bet he
had about three or four thousand dollars with the equipment
(40:33):
on his back. Wow. And you know what if you
have three kids or yeah, two, Yeah, it gets expensive.
So we have to make it possible for everybody to
play it and afford it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
No, I think that's I think it's important for the
youth to just make it affordable for everybody to be
able to be on a level playing ground there. Well, Dusky,
it's been a pleasure to talk to you man, such
an iconic career. Thank you for the time and congratulations
on an amazing professional career. What a beautiful thing to do?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Is is a life? Right?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Play in coach baseball. It's pretty cool, pretty awesome man.
Thank you sir. All right, thank you, Thank you again
for listening to The Jimmy Rex Show. If you liked
this episode, please do me a quick favor.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Just go online, leave us a review, subscribe to our
show both on YouTube, Apple podcasts and on Spotify, and
if you would share this with somebody else. Also, if
you're looking to make a real change in your life,
or if you have a man in your life that
you know, could you know, just use a brotherhood or
some men around him to help him level up in
every area of life. I encourage you to look at
(41:32):
we are the day. This is my men's coaching program
I started several years ago, and we have been able
to help close to one thousand men now that have
joined this program and had a life changing, transformational experience.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Several of these episodes we talked to members of this group.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
We talk about this group and If you are interested
in learning more, go to join What That's Joined watt
dot com.
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