HOUSTON, TX — MLB legend Dusty Baker has had an elustruious career as a player and manager and recently guiding the Houston Astros to their 2022 World Series championship defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in October.
Real Sports host and correspondent Bryant Gumbel went one-on-one with one of the game’s most admired figures in Dusty Baker. Baker revealed to Gumble that after he won the World Series, he received over 1500 text messages from everyone from Snoop Dogg to former President Barack Obama to Sandy Koufax and many more.
“People told me, hey man we don’t like the Astros but we love you,” Baker told Gumble in the sit down interview. “I think people see somebody who’s been in it for so long… to persevere.”
Baker is the oldest manager to win a championship out of the four major sports in the United States. As a player in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baker went to three World Series and won a championship with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981. He’s played in over 2,000 games in his 19-year playing career as an outfield and bonafide hitter. His championship win gave him 51 postseason wins that placed him fourth on the MLB all-time wins list behind Joe Torre, Bobby Cox, and Tony La Russa. Surprisingly to some, Baker is only the third Black manager to win a championship after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston.
Baker has managed five MLB teams that include the Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and the Astros all with great levels of success.
The episode airs Tuesday, March 21 from 10PM-11PM ET/PT, as the episode debuts on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max.
