BASEBALL Baker becomes 12th manager to net 2k wins
Just call him HOUSTON —
Mr. 2,000.
Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker won his 2,000th game Tuesday night, becoming the 12th skipper in major league history to reach the milestone and the first Black man to do it.
The benchmark victory came in Houston’s 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners and comes more than 29 years after he collected his first win on April 6, 1993, in San Francisco’s 2-1 victory over St. Louis.
“I’m probably one of the luckiest men to ever walk on this earth,” a grinning Baker said minutes after the final out.
The 72-year-old Baker said being the first Black manager to reach 2,000 wins makes the achievement even more meaningful.
“It means extra,” he said. “It means extra to the culture.
It means extra to society. It means extra to my race, and it means extra hopefully for others to get an opportunity (so) I’m not the last.”
It’s the latest milestone in a storied career as a player and manager that has spanned more than 50 years. Baker has reached the World Series twice as a manager, last season with the Astros and in 2002 with the Giants. As a player, he went three times with the Dodgers, winning it all as a big-hitting left fielder in 1981.
So where does t his moment rank?
“Right now it’s at the top,“he said. “But I ain’t gonna stop now.“
Ten of the 11 other manag- ers who have accumulated at least 2,000 wins are in the Hall of Fame. Bruce Bochy (2,003), who isn’t yet eligible, is the only exception.
“This should lead straight to the Hall of Fame,“Astros catcher Martin Maldonado said.
Baker’s players presented him with a bottle of vintage Dom Perignon champagne they signed with a gold marker to commemorate the achievement. The team toasted Baker with far more reasonably priced champagne in the clubhouse after the game.
His wife, Melissa, and a group of about 10 friends were at the ballpark. Melissa Baker smiled as she filmed her husband postgame from the stands as the big screen displayed a picture of him with the words “2K Wins“in huge white letters.
Baker’s career record is 2,000-1,745 and he’s the only manager in major league history to take five different teams to the postseason.
He collected 840 wins in 10 years with the Giants, 322 in four seasons with the Cubs, 509 in six years with the Reds, 192 in two seasons with the Nationals and he has 137 in his tenure with the Astros.