For Baker, wins path started in Bay Area
Nearly three decades after collecting the first victory of his managerial career with the Giants, Dusty Baker became the 12th manager in major league history to reach 2,000 wins.
Baker, who spent 10 seasons with the Giants and led San Francisco to 103 wins in a remarkable debut season in 1993, earned win No. 2,000 on Tuesday evening in
Houston as his Astros defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-0.
“I think about the people that made it possible for me to get in this position: my dad, Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, Cito Gaston — the guys who were minority managers ahead of me,” Baker told reporters following the milestone win. “You look at guys like Maury Wills and some of the guys that I know.”
Baker won 840 games with the Giants from 1993-2002, 322 more with the Cubs from 2003-2006, 509 with the Reds from 2008-2013 and then won 192 games over a two-year stint with the Nationals from 2016-2017.
In 2021, Baker led the Astros to a 95-win season and an American League pennant, becoming the only manager in major league history to win division titles with five different clubs.
“I’ve been the luckiest person in the whole world to be amongst and in the presence of many greats on and off the field,” Baker said. “I’m probably one of the luckiest men to ever walk on this earth.”
Ten of the 11 managers who have reached the 2,000-win plateau are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, with Bruce Bochy being the exception. Bochy, who has not yet been eligible for enshrinement, has 2,003 career wins, but three World Series titles, an achievement that still eludes Baker despite taking two different teams to the Fall Classic nearly 20 years apart.
“I don’t want to stop now,” Baker said Tuesday. “I don’t know how long I’m going to manage, but I always said if I win one, I’ll win two. I hate to be a liar.”