Familial ties come full circle
Baker’s son Darren rising at Cal with guidance from ‘big brother’
Pay it forward. That often means helping a stranger, picking up the toll for the car behind you, making a charitable donation.
Sometimes you can pay it forward in a direct line. A lineage from past to present to future.
That is happening at Cal, where freshman baseball player Darren Baker — son of former Giants manager Dusty Baker — is the recipient of a process that started long before he was born.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Melissa Baker, Darren’s mother. “It’s full circle.”
Noah Jackson is an assistant coach on the new Cal baseball staff. A 2003 graduate of Cal (where he played baseball), Jackson was a volunteer assistant with the Bears in 2015 before heading to the University of the Pacific to coach with Mike Neu. When Neu was hired last summer by Cal to replace David Esquer as its head coach, Jackson came back to Berkeley with him.
They have reunited with Darren, 18, who committed to Cal as a sophomore in high school, when Neu and Jack-
“To me, it was a godsend. To have him in Noah’s hands — I trust him as much as anyone in the world.” Dusty Baker, on son, Darren, playing at Cal under assistant coach Noah Jackson, a longtime family friend
son were Cal assistants.
The connection between Jackson and Darren runs far deeper than just a coach who recruited a young player.
“I’d describe him as a big brother,” Darren said. “That’s the best way to put it.”
In 1992, when Noah was 12, his father, Sylvester, died after a brutal bout with cancer. Sylvester Jackson was a broadcaster for the A’s and one of the prominent African American voices in Bay Area media. He was beloved in the sports community, and after his death, many reached out to his widow, Marilyn, and her children Noah and Joleiba, then 8. (Full disclosure: I became neighbors with the Jacksons after Sylvester’s death.)
“Dusty came into my life when a lot of people said they would be there, but they didn’t end up following through,” Jackson said. “Dusty followed through from Day 1 until today. That means a lot.”
Dusty Baker had visited Sylvester in the hospital. Sylvester said, “Promise me you’ll take care of my son.” Baker told him, “Aw, you’re going to be OK.”
But he wasn’t. And after Sylvester’s death, Baker served as a father figure, taking Noah fishing or hunting, having him spend the weekend at his house.
“He was like another son,” Melissa Baker said. “Dusty took pride that he was able to help raise him.”
When Baker became the Giants’ manager before the 1993 season, Noah was frequently at the ballpark, serving as a bat boy or helping in the clubhouse.
“I did what I could do,” said Baker, who praised the ability of Noah’s mother to raise two strong, successful children. “I spent as much time with him as I could.”
It was a crucial time in Jackson’s life.
“I was a teenager and he would make a call to see if I was doing my work in school and staying on the straight and narrow,” Jackson said. “As I went through my baseball career, he was supportive and a guide for me. It means a lot.”
Jackson graduated from Marin Catholic-Kentfield and headed to the University of Arkansas to play baseball. After one season, he transferred to Cal. After Cal, he played in the Cubs’ organization for two years and later worked as a scout for the Padres. He founded the nonprofit First Base Foundation, which sponsors a high school travel-ball program, the California Warriors, intended to make travel ball affordable for players, regardless of race, ethnic or socioeconomic background.
Meanwhile, Dusty Baker and Melissa welcomed a son in 1999. Baker has an older daughter, Natosha, from an earlier marriage.
“Noah was the older brother Darren never had,” Baker said.
Like Noah, Darren became a constant fixture at the ballpark with his father. Though he has no recollection of his most famous moment — being swept out of the way of a home-plate collision by J.T. Snow in the 2002 World Series when he was just 3 — he absorbed baseball like a sponge. He simply has assumed it would be his life.
“It’s what I’ve wanted to do, forever,” Darren said. “I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. It’s what I’ve been around for 18 years.”
The Bakers live in Granite Bay (Placer County); in the summers, Melissa and Darren would travel to wherever Dusty was working: Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington. Darren went to Jesuit High in Sacramento; when he committed to Cal, he was still a scrawny sophomore who wore No. 5 because double-digit numbers looked too big on him. He later filled out and became one of the top prospects in Northern California, with plenty of options — but he stuck with Cal.
“I told him, ‘Once you’ve given your word, you need to stick with it,’ ” Dusty Baker said.
When Neu and his staff took over the Cal program, it justified Darren’s commitment. He was excited the coaches who had helped recruit him were back.
So were his parents. Cal can be a difficult place for a young athlete to navigate. To have coaches who played there and who can provide a comfort level is huge.
“To me, it was a godsend,” Dusty said. “To have him in Noah’s hands — I trust him as much as anyone in the world.”
Jackson said: “My relationship with Dusty has evolved over the years. Now I get to watch Darren evolve, come of age as a young man. It’s pretty special.”
Baker’s departure from the Nationals was at least somewhat surprising — he was dismissed after winning 192 regular-season games the past two seasons and back-to-back NL East titles. But he sees a silver lining.
“Maybe I’m not supposed to be in baseball right now,” Baker said. “I’ll be with my family and get to watch Darren play.”
Darren, a quiet kid by nature, is accustomed to the scrutiny that comes from being a baseball manager’s son. He spent a little time in the spotlight in June, when the Nationals drafted him in the 27th round. He was committed to Cal, but found the draft process something that might be useful in the future — he can be drafted again after three years of college.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” Darren said.
Jackson’s coaching career is just getting off the ground, but he has learned a lot from Baker over the years.
“Just the ability to bounce ideas off him,” Jackson said. “When someone has that much experience, the things you can learn, but just sitting and listening are priceless.”
Few managers in baseball have connected with players and built relationships as well as Baker. Jackson has studied that strength up close.
“How do you get the best out of players? How do you connect with them?” Jackson said. “I think that’s the hardest part, the most undervalued. How do you keep players motivated?”
The young man who learned compassion and leadership from Dusty Baker is now ready to pass on those lessons to others, including Dusty’s son.
“Whatever is given to you, you pass it on,” Baker said. “Hopefully, someday Darren will also pass it on.
“That’s how you make this world a better place.”