Managing the backlash
Dusty Baker can draw on his own past to help team move forward.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rude receptions continue for the Astros. Boos bombard baseball’s most loathed lineup wherever it appears in spring training — even in its supposed home stadium at Fitteam Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The animosity is an appetizer for what many assume will be a hellacious regular season on the road.
“Hopefully one time through, maybe it will be over,” manager Dusty Baker said Saturday. “How long can (people) talk about the same things? Behind this whole thing, you kind of see a mean spirit a little bit. I’m hoping we all change our spirit.”
Additional security will be added on all trips after some members of the 2017 team received death threats for their role in the electronic signstealing scheme.
No such audible venom has been spewed this spring. And although Houston’s had seven batters hit by pitches, none were intentional. Five occurred on offspeed pitches — one of which hit Jose Altuve in the foot. Another hit Alex Bregman in the back, but it came from a Cardinals pitcher without any experience above Class AA.
Still, eight games into
Grapefruit League play, those who remain from the 2017 team have endured an inundation of invectives. George Springer was serenaded with boos before leading off Saturday’s home game against the Mets.
Altuve has been a popular target of individualized resentment for the rampant — yet unsubstantiated — rumors that he wore a buzzer during the 2019 season. He refused to acknowledge the vitriol when it began last week. Most of his 2017 teammates echo a similar sentiment, stating their sole focus is on playing the game and reaching the postseason.
“I think at the end of the day, we’re focused on just playing the game,” Springer said after Saturday’s game. “That’s just what we have to focus on — staying together as a team and focusing on our job, which is going out there and playing baseball.”
The beginning of day-to-day disdain introduces the most pivotal piece of Baker’s managerial tenure. Owner Jim Crane picked the skipper to galvanize his clubhouse and, somehow, shield them from the oncoming onslaught of hate. Ensuring the team is able to compartmentalize the chaos seems like an impossible task. Baker is among the few men who could try to accomplish it.
Baker is a players’ manager first and foremost, a man who can impart wisdom from the many malice-filled experiences he lived. He has yet to share the stories from his past, but acknowledged “I’m sure at some point in time” they will be required.
“I was booed in (Los Angeles) every day my first year there,” said Baker, who played eight years for the Dodgers. “I was booed in Chicago my last couple months there (as the Cubs manager).
“That was tough. But, hey, I survived it. I’m still here. There’s some people in Chicago, when I go back there and talk to people, now they’re all like ‘Oh, we love you.’ and I’m like ‘Wait, not all of you.’”
Baker played in Atlanta during the Civil Rights movement. His spent springs in West Palm Beach where, as a black man, he was not always accepted.
In 1975, the Braves shipped Baker to Los Angeles in a sixplayer deal that included reigning All-Star Jimmy Wynn. Expectations were enormous for Baker and Ed Goodson, the two newest Dodgers. Baker hit a home run in his first at-bat in Dodger blue.
Seventy-seven games passed before he hit another. The days between bombs were wretched.
“I was booed every day,” Baker said. “They broke out the lamps at my house, scratched my car because it was an unpopular trade.”
While he was loathed, Baker stopped reading the newspaper and soliciting outside opinions. He corralled control of his own self-esteem, he said.
“That’s why I don’t read on a daily basis,” Baker said. “I don’t read stuff good or bad. Why should anyone control my self-esteem? And that’s what it does when you read stuff about yourself. You’re either the greatest or the worst — very rarely are you in the middle.”
The Astros are nowhere near the middle. They reside among the worst, and Baker must guide them through it.
“They’re handling it pretty good externally,” Baker said. “I don’t know what it’s like internally. Nobody likes to be booed.”