Dusty Baker documentary: from childhood to the Giants to beyond
Dusty Baker was front and center for the two most talked-about home run chases in history, Hank Aaron’s and Barry Bonds’, and had an impact on both as Aaron’s teammate in Atlanta and Bonds’ manager in San Francisco.
“The year I broke the Babe’s record was a very lonely year for me,” said Aaron, who dealt with racism and death threats on the way to breaking Babe Ruth’s record on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta.
The MLB Network is premiering a Dusty Baker documentary Tuesday - “Dusty: A Baseball Journey” - which touches on his childhood from Riverside to Sacramento, his playing and managing careers and the impact of his relationships with his father, Johnnie Baker Sr., and Aaron.
“I could’ve been the first one to the plate, but I kind of sat back,” Baker said.
“He’s meant everything to me in my baseball career,” Baker said of Aaron, who had promised Baker’s mother, Christine, to watch out for her son after Dusty was drafted by the Braves as a teenager and signed despite objections from his father, who wanted him to go to college.
The documentary comes out on the eve of spring training, where Baker will begin managing his fourth team, the Washington Nationals, and seek his first World Series title.
The Nationals, who used to be the Expos, never won a championship.
Aaron was a mentor to Baker and Ralph Garr, who used to follow the superstar around and often hung out in Aaron’s hotel room.
“Eddie comes into Hank’s room and says, ‘Hey, man, you seen those two little bastards?’ ” Baker said.
Rock and blues legend Elvin Bishop, a long-time friend of Baker, was performing on the Virgin island of St. Thomas when the Giants were playing Game 6 of the 2002 World Series in Anaheim.
Every couple innings, I’d give someone in the band a long solo, and I’d run around back and check on the score.
[...] their 10 years together on the Giants covered a World Series, four playoff appearances, three MVPs and a little bit of a steroid scandal.
Bonds passed Aaron five years after Baker’s final season with the Giants.
Baker tells a good Al Rosen story, dating to Baker’s days as batting coach and Rosen’s as general manager:
Mitchell began hitting cleanup regularly late in the 1988 season and was the National League MVP in 1989, hitting 47 home runs.
There’s only one way to play baseball, you play it correctly.
There’s a time to bunt, and there’s a time to go for the three-run homer.
John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
