Dusty Baker is the newest member of the 2,000 wins club.
Tuesday night the Houston Astros defeated the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park (HOU 4, SEA 0) to give Baker his 2,000th career win. He is the 12th manager in history to win 2,000 games and the first Black manager to reach the milestone.
"I think about the people that made it possible for me to get in this position," Baker told KPRC 2's Howard Chen prior to Tuesday's game. "My dad, Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, Cito Gaston, the minority managers ahead of me."
Ten of the 11 managers ahead of Baker on the all-time wins list are in the Hall of Fame. Only Bruce Bochy, who won his 2,000th game in 2019 and will be in the Hall of Fame one day, is not. Here are the 12 members of the 2,000 wins club:
Connie Mack: 3,731John McGraw: 2,763Tony La Russa: 2,728Bobby Cox: 2,504Joe Torre: 2,326Sparky Anderson: 2,194Bucky Harris: 2,158Joe McCarthy: 2,125Walter Alston: 2,040Leo Durocher: 2,008Bruce Bochy: 2,003Dusty Baker: 2,000 and countingThe Astros are Baker's fifth team and this is his third season with Houston. He was brought in to replace AJ Hinch and essentially be an adult in the room following the sign-stealing scandal. Baker led the Astros to the ALCS during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and the World Series in 2021, though they fell to the Atlanta Braves.
Baker is the only manager in history to take five different teams to the postseason -- Billy Martin (Athletics, Tigers, Twins, Yankees) and Davey Johnson (Mets, Orioles, Nationals, Reds) are the only others to take as many as four teams to the postseason -- though he is still searching for that elusive World Series ring as a manager. Here are Dusty's records at each stop:
San Francisco Giants
1993-2002
840-715
.540
Chicago Cubs
2003-06
322-326
.497
Cincinnati Reds
2008-13
509-463
.524
Washington Nationals
2016-17
192-132
.593
Houston Astros
2020-present
137-109
.556
TOTAL
--
2,000-1,745
.534
Baker is a three-time Manager of the Year (1993, 1997, 2000) who finished runner-up three other times (2003, 2010, 2016) and has received votes in 14 of his 25 seasons as a manager. His teams have won eight division titles and two pennants (2002 Giants and 2021 Astros).
Long before he became a manager, Baker was a heck of a ballplayer, hitting .278/.347/.432 with 1,981 hits and 242 home runs with the Braves, Dodgers, Giants and Athletics from 1968-86. He went to two All-Star Games as a player, received MVP votes in three seasons (he finished fourth in the voting in 1980), and won his only career World Series ring with the 1981 Dodgers.
Baker, 73 in June, is an excellent argument in favor of Hall of Fame worthiness based on a person's entire baseball career, not just as a player and not just as a manager. Combine his contributions on the field as a player and in the dugout as a manager, and you have someone worthy of Cooperstown.
It's unclear how long Baker plans to continue managing. Whenever he does decide to retire, Dusty will walk away from the game as one of the most accomplished people in the history of the sport. He was Hall of Fame worthy even before recording his 2,000th win. Now that's just another feather in his cap.
