Dusty Baker honored by the Dodgers (Full ceremony and hear from Dusty!)

and Baker signaled a wave of appreciation he fit in like he'd been here all along D he was a type of player that played hard knew how to play the game was going to play it right and he was going to do what he could do for the betterman of this ball Club he really was one of the first guys I saw that kind of owned that area where he played out in left field that was Baker field and you could see it an injury field 1976 season burst his bubble but his fans kept their unwavering support so did his new manager Tommy lorta who announced at the start of spring training in 1977 that Baker was his left fielder despite only hitting four home runs in 1976 both the Dodgers and their fans celebrated a healthy Baker's comeback that allowed the big blue Wrecking Crew to regain control of the National League West standings on the final day of the 1977 regular season Baker homered against intimidating Houston Astros Ace Jr Richard making the Dodgers the first team in major league history to have four players to each hit at least 30 home runs in the same season Baker Reggie Smith Ron SE and Steve garage said look dy I know you're going to hit 30 because God would not make you hit 29 and then not hit the 30 if God didn't want you to hit the 30th he would have made you stop on the last day at 27th that's how I felt but Baker reserved his biggest clout of 1977 the following week in the National League Championship Series after losing the opener of a best of Five series the Dodgers were desperate for a victory before the scene shifted to Philadelphia's veteran Stadium Baker's fourth inning Grand Slam sparked the Dodgers to a 7 to1 Victory hit well to left field Grand Slam home run Dusty Baker Los Angeles eventually won the pennant in four games and Baker became the first most valuable player of a National League Championship Series well when Dusty came into the locker room you knew it uh he was all business as far as playing baseball and wanting to win he just loved his job he loved what he did he loved playing the game and all that energy was something that we could all feel Baker in 1977 would make the first of three World Series appearances with the Dodgers during a five year period all against the New York Yankees during that era Baker remained a key member in both the starting lineup and in the clubhouse the allstar left fielder won both Gold Glove and Silver Slugger honors while providing veteran leadership my first time we traveled back in the day in ' 77 when you traveled you traveled in suits or you weree tie and slacks and I come to the big Lees I didn't have any of that we went to our Atlanta and Dusty took me to a place in Atlanta bought my first suit bought my first pair of animal shoes alligators I remember him and a belt and from that point on he helped me to learn how to dress at the major league level but it was Dusty that took me on a shoing spree I will always remember that although Los Angeles suffered consecutive postseason heartbreaks in 1977 and 1978 against the Yankees the Dodgers quest for a championship finally finally succeeded in 1981 Baker and his teammates could finally pop the champagne after winning the 1981 World Series at Yankee Stadium Baker left the Dodgers after the 1983 season but he remained a familiar face in Southern California whether as an opposing player or during his 26-year managerial career being young and 21 22 when I was coming up you know he just was there to support to try to help you know nurtur my career from the beginning and he did the same when I was done playing you know and and trying to you know nurture me in in my transition from playing uh and encouraged me to get into coaching and and stay involved in baseball and a lot of where I've been in my career is because I was fortunate to play for dusy nearly a half century after he first dawned the Los Angeles Dodgers uniform the former outfielder returns among the legends of Dodger baseball welcome home Dusty Legends of Dodger baseball is a recognition of Dodger great for their impacts on the field and off the inaugural class that went in in 2019 included the great Don Nukem two years ago the mouse that roared myy Wills was inducted there have been seven total players inducted we have five of them here with us today please welcome from last year's legends class Manny [Applause] Moda also from last year's class oral [Applause] Hershiser inducted into the legends of Dodger B baseball in 2022 Kirk [Applause] Gibson the only Legend who is also in the Ring of Honor number 34 Fernando [Applause] Valenzuela and our first Speaker of the evening one of the first inductees Steve Garvey [Applause] Joe thank you so much and it's an honor to be with all of you this evening it's an honor to welcome our friend and our brother to this wonderful fraternity you know it's been said it's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care about who takes the credit for it and I think that is the epitome of Dusty Baker Through The Years you know many of us have uh paragraphs Dusty now is a CH a chapter on and off the field on the field the accomplishments in The Dugout as a manager but if life is God's gift to us what we do with is our gift to him Dusty Baker has given him the greatest gift and that's his a man as a husband as a father as a celebrated baseball player as an American but as somebody who now epitomizes the great Dodger history and I think all of us who have been inducted feel the same way that we love you Dusty and it's your time [Applause] congratulations Dusty there are a few people who couldn't be here today but wanted to make sure they were still able to send their best wishes to you so let's take a look at Dodger Vision congratulations Dusty on being inducted into the legends of Dodgers baseball you were certainly a legend when I first met you and now you're even more of a legend for the influence and the personality that you exuded and the care that you sent out to me in my younger years and is still there in my older years I appreciate you and congratulations well dy I just wanted to say congratulations and being inducted to the legends of Dodger baseball man you deserve it my friend and uh love you a lot just congratulations Dusty it's Mike SOA I want to congratulate you on the great honor of being inducted into the legends of Dodger baseball welld deserved Dusty thank you for everything you did for me and everything you did for all of us that came up and uh and uh and played in those early years of our careers and it's a it's an honor well deserved the legends of Dodger baseball has got to be honored to have you in it and you deserve it you earned it you earned a right to be there and I'm happy to say that I'm very proud of the fact that I was one of your teammates and I enjoyed every year every moment we had on and off the field you're deserving congratulations I love you man Dusty congratulations on being inducted into the legends of Dodger baseball thank you for everything that you've done for me personally and professionally in my baseball career I wouldn't be standing here today without your support and love all the best hey Dusty congratulations you deserve this uh you were my mentor coming up I think uh having an opportunity to come up when I was a rookie and play with you and uh you were the Kirk Gibson of of that era and uh you know it was a joy uh you always took me in you chewed me out when you needed to and uh you just been a great friend and you know you deserve everything that you can in life and and it comes because you're such a great person he played the game right and always give you 100% he was the winner he hate to lose so my congratulation to Dusty Baker to be mention in honor as a legend because in my heart those is a dog Legend good friend good teammate and great human being congratulations Dy and God bless you our next speaker was another one of Dusty's teammates on the championship team of 1981 and of course a few years before that he was part of the sports first 30 home run quartet along with Dusty and Garvey and and say he's a kid that grew up in Los Angeles and went on to be a seven time Major League All Star please welcome back to Dodger Stadium Reggie Smith thank you Joe first let me say it's truly an honor and I'm humbled to be able to uh speak Dusty and my good friend you know it's so much that I could say but they only give us a few minutes so I'm going to indulge myself a little bit here just to let you know that the things that you accomplished uh in the Dodger uniform epitomizes the things of Legends and it's so important to me to know that I had an opportunity to play with you they say that a superstar is someone that makes the people around them play better with Dusty is a superstar on the field and he's a superstar as a manager as well and for those attributes I am so proud and feel so good that what you were able to accomplish as a manager to bring together teams that were winning teams something that I'm sure you learned from a lot of the greats that you had an opportunity to be a part of and I know Hank Aaron was one of them but more importantly the Legacy that was left for African-American players like ourselves guy out there is a statue that said that then important of a life nothing is more important than the life in the fact that you have on other people and I think of Roy Campanella Don nuken Dan Bankhead Jim Gilliam who man missing Roy I mentioned Roy uh Joe Black when I think of those guys and the path and the opportunity that was opened to them by both Branch Ricky and the Ali family to allow African-Americans to start playing that if we had a chance to honor Jackie's Legend we are Jackie's Legend thank you [Applause] Dusty we have one more video to share with you one more mess you're going to have to bear with one more nice message and we're hearing all these people that are talking about the impact that Dusty has had on them and it's across baseball you'll find people like this the guy that's felt that more than anybody obviously your son Darren hey D uh I just want to say congratulations on being inducted into the legends of Dodger baseball and um you know obviously a huge accomplishment and I know how much playing for the Dodgers meant to you being from the area and um you know how many people you affected you know on and off the field in uh in you know California in general and you know you're my biggest role model and the reason I play so um you know nobody deserves it more and I'm sorry I can't be there tonight but um you know there's plenty of people there for me and uh I love you and I'll see you soon so we have one more special guest joining us tonight like Dusty a former Dodger outfielder and now World Series winning manager ladies and gentlemen the manager of the Dodgers Dave [Applause] Roberts man Dusty Baker back at Dodger Stadium come on on let's go man this is the way it's supposed to be this man is a legend yes um you know just watching Darren right there you know and uh what Reggie said about Legacy Dusty you created a legacy and I think some something that I talk to my players about all the time is that this game is bigger than all of us you have to play for things that are bigger your teammates the fans the organization the game of baseball in its entirety this game is going to be here longer than all of us are here and that's something that does Baker instilled in me and every single player that played for him and that played with him and so for me Dusty I salute you and we're trying to do our part to keep that fire burning and keep your legacy living so uh Steve and Reggie talked a little about Dusty's impact as a player um as a current as a as a former outfielder current manager I'd like to take a step forward Dusty help carve a path for black managers that only began during his playing career and still barely existed by the time he became a manager for his first job in 1993 Dusty took a team over that had finished 72 and 90 the year before and then the following year LED them to 103 59 record a 31 game improvement so tell me that leadership doesn't matter before 2016 only eight years ago no major league team had hired a black manager to take over a winning team Dusty and I became the first two and I am very proud and honored to be linked with you couple more great nuggets here guys Baker is only one of two managers in the 21st century and only one of only 12 all time with at least 2,000 wins three three penants and a world series title that's a Hall of Famer City next to me so to the Hall of Fame this a Hall of Famer Dusty I truly what you I truly appreciate what you've done for the Dodgers what you've done for me and most importantly what you have done for baseball congratulations you are a Dodger [Applause] Ledger all right so as handsome as you guys all are as good as you all look and there's no disputing that we figured we should make it a little more official a little more uniform so tonight we're going to unveil a special official Blazer of Legends of Dodger baseball we've got some of the current Dodgers who are going to present our current members our existing members with their Blazers tocar Hernandez coming out here River Ryan Miguel roas Freddy Freeman and Joe [Music] Kelly where we go we go [Music] and Doc we're going to leave it up to you to present the official jacket to the newest Dodger Legend Dusty [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Baker I think you're ready for the podium my friend let's hear it for Dusty Baker hello well first let me say thank you uh to all the fans and um to those uh fanaticos they mexo and uh you know I just want to say thank you to my teammates because I I'm hoping that I help make them better because they definitely help me be a better ball player and a better person you know I came over from the Braves as a young player I couldn't wait to get to La cuz I know the LA Dodgers were about winning and I was right up my alley to try to win and we had a lot of help uh you know the guys that really helped us when I think about it were were Sandy kofax Jim Gilliam um Roy Campanella uh Lou Johnson I mean you can name it on and on with the guys that that helped us and uh you know they gave us the the Dodger tradition and the will to to win and succeed on a daily basis and I have to thank Tom Lort for believing in me because when I was with the bra Thomas sort told me he goes Dusty uh he's third base coach he says man I you need to be on the Dodgers I said really why he says well cuz you got that Dodger body the Dodgers are always the best looking guys on the field so I like wow wow maybe maybe I'm one of them and so they came and got me a year later you know that was the the turning point in my life and the turning point in my career and uh you know I really got to thank the fans here uh as a kid growing up in Riverside what are the chances of me playing for the Dodgers at that time it was called Chavez Ravine and I used to listen to Vince Scully on my transistor radio every day and pretend that I was Tommy Davis wearing number 12 and there there are some kids out there that I know have done the same thing grew up wanted to be Reggie Smith Steve Garvey uh uh Bill Russell Davey loopes and now you got new Heroes to to emulate and to be like and we're all witnesses that if you really want it and you have the desire to win that you can achieve that goal that every one of you out there have a chance to be whatever you want to be in life and I just want to say thank you very much um I love you I mean this I don't feel like a legend these guys made me a legend whatever that is okay well thank you all right only one thing left to do we got our jackets we've heard from everybody last year's inductees oral and Manny are going to unveil the Legends plaque [Music] [Applause] [Music] take step little thank you again everybody for joining us for what is just the start of what is going to be a special weekend here at Stadium but right now most importantly once again congratulations to Dusty Baker baseball's best buddy and the newest Legend of Dodger baseball well we've been talking about the man of the night honorary guest the newest Legend to Dodger baseball Dusty Baker who doesn't need any more good threads to look good but we added some on him and now we got him up here with us Dusty congratulations my man oh thank you I mean you know I didn't expect it tell you the truth and I really didn't know how to accept it and uh but you know my teammates helped me uh guys that I played with and it was great seeing like oral uh I was there when he signed he was a little young kid you helped me get to the big leagues and then uh you know to see Sandy kofax and Steve Garvey and Reggie Smith I mean guys Manny MTO that I played with and uh you know against like K Gibson and these guys I mean makes it a lot lot easier to feel to feel comfortable Cruz leading off this inning two balls and two strikes was it a lot of fun yes to see the guys but uh those some of those stories down in the bunker were kind of fun too yeah and some of them we can't tell on the air uhoh rips this ball to right center field it is gone if you hear me say oh oh and the out I told the guys if I say oh oh that us this a homework well you hit enough of them to know when they're gone yeah well I'm telling you that ball you know when I was playing here at night that ball did not jump but this ball seems like is the last couple years it's jumping yeah I know you don't play a lot of golf but it's like a titlist it goes a long way yeah that's what it is I think they W winding them a little tighter man cuz I tell if you get it up in the air it's out of here I mean before we had to wait to see if it went over the fence remember in our day a ball would get hit in batting practice and it would come back behind second base the shagging bucket and you could see the flat side of it when a ball none of these balls have flat sides well would say I didn't do it all I did I tried to create a flat side I didn't know about the shagging bucket that's that was for the picture of the day before y the only thing is I don't think anybody shags now do they no it's it's an easy life now kind of an easy life one thing they do more than generation in my generation is they take way more infield practice and way more Outfield practice defense and they hit a lot yeah I mean I think they hit too much Joey Bart here swings and misses one and two the thrill of playing compared to the thrill of managing do you get the same kind of Goosebumps and excitement when you were managing compared to when you were playing um nah not even close not even close now what you get as a manager you get nerves that's cuz I didn't I didn't have a toothpick when I played but the toothpick is my stress release and so that's what you get you know you got Bases Loaded two outs and that's why I wear my wristband so I can Pat my forehead when I get hot I may look cool but inside man you are you are like praying and and like Lord please let us get out of this inning here let me ask you this though you do you miss that do you miss those nerves or are you love and retirement 100% no you know what I miss I missed I missed the game time m you know I don't miss the pre and post you don't miss meeting with me come on D sometimes but certain guys yeah yeah you know but I like the thrill of the game I mean uh you know like he's trying to outsmart me I'm trying to outsmart them uh you know you have like days where you feel great and other days where you feel like you're down in the duns but you can't let you can't go too high you can't go too low cuz this game will will and you know something there was a guy that when I first started a manager and he told me do not drink in the room and I says what and and he was an old manager and I asked him why and he says well you're going to drink when you celebrate you're going to drink when you it's not going to be good no so you're drinking all the time well you know you were a player that loved to be in the moment as a player but as a manager aren't you in the moment the whole game yes you are and and and you leave the game emotionally and mentally tired yeah cuz if you have that game as a you might be up there two out of four at bats or five at bats you might make a play in the Outfield with a man on Third and the big throw home and you got all that adrenaline fun but as a manager when did that start was did that start when you arrived at the Ballpark when you wrote the lineup out when you had meetings what well that edge I wasn't big on meetings but it started probably the night before because a lot of times I make out my lineup tonight before you know the guys now they like the lineup the night before so they can play like before I didn't never like to do that you know I like to tell the guy he's off tomorrow and then everybody else hopefully they they they don't come in sick or hung over or whatever so uh it's uh and then when you get to the ballpark you know you got your routine you know which is why when Joe used come in I have my music on to try to stay calm or whatever mood I wanted to be in yeah so it's uh I'll tell you it's probably a 10 to 12 hour job wow but it's great I mean it's it's fun I mean to be in charge and to and to see the joy of of you know on your players faces or to see their families or to see a guy improve you know I mean this is what you you know what you live for you know if you can make a kid better you know to fulfill his dream then um you know I've done my job how you staying busy these days um I'm staying busy going to watch my son you know he's in Rochester New York and uh um you know I'm in the wine business which I've been for a while you know Baker family wines I got five acres of of work out there the only thing is the last three weeks has been over 100 every every day so I got to pick my spots either early in the morning and you know while I was gone playing ball I was never home in the summer the last four years well I come home in the winter and everything look dormant now that I'm home half of them are dead and so I got to I thought they were dormant so I got so I got to replace them oh boy but it's fun though you know I like growing stuff and uh you know I like staying busy so you're out there you're not just a figurehead in this wine business you're out there doing it no I mean I love it I mean I was my wine maker topped M you know a lot of things you know to do and uh you know you know different signs when they're not getting enough water when they're getting too much water when you have uh you know when your leaves are curling uh you know there's a lot of things you got to have a sun side and a and a a uh a side where it's cool in the morning you know there's all kind of things that go into it versus just growing gr Cruz down the line just foul sound like you're managing a bullpen right now but it's wine yeah I'll tell you what you know in your speech you talked about you didn't really believe that you were a legend how you're going to accept it but it was your teammates that put you there tell me about some of your great dodg your teammates that you love well hey man I mean they you know we play together and uh you know guys didn't always get along necessarily you know but they knew how to coexist in the workplace and they knew how to how to play together as a unit and a common goal was to win and uh you know when I think about Garvey I thing about loopes and SE I mean you know Billy Russell he was quiet but he was you know we had a bunch of leaders on the team and and a bunch of guys that that came to the ballpark every day to win and uh you know pitching staff was was unbelievable I mean these guys would run every day uh you know our trainers would would uh you know work out with us and make sure I mean the thing that we did probably is much I mean more than anybody else we kept our main guys on the field you know we didn't get hurt and if I can and and I took that with me and my manager if I can keep my first team on the field more than yours and playing against your second team in the long run I'm going to beat you that's why they're second team your generation probably in my context was the last one that would really Define old school players and then it started to slowly kind of weed out in my generation there were still always those old school players but your generation it seemed like you can't be on the team unless you're old school well you know some there's more competition for the jobs you know that was the thing when I first came into the game there was only eight teams in each league and then they had expans and then you know more Sports start started paying you know like uh prob Beast volleyball or you know uh BMX uh racing there's all kind of I mean it it it took away from a lot of kids that wouldn't ordinarily be playing baseball football started paying basketball started paying so um hey man this this kid hitting right now keep Ryan Hayes mhm his uh man I knew him when he was a little old probably 2 years old when his dad played for me Charlie but I got to tell a story Charlie called me for tickets today I said I started said why' you ask your son and send you stop it he you so he's in the ballpark somewhere I guess he figured i' get better seats guy who caught a popup to win a World Series is asking for tickets yeah yeah and I left him for the guy who's getting honored tonight you did it you left him yeah I left him oh you're the best oh Charlie he was a be wasn't he be though D was be did you ever play with him against him and with him a little bit but I'll tell you he's just a be he's a great person you see this coming at all was was there enough signs at little key Brian the around yeah yeah I mean you know number one he loved it you know that's that's the start you know when a kid loves it and you can uh uh and he's smart and uh he didn't talk too much he he was always paying attention which you like you know the young kids to do I mean you can tell the guys that have the attentive looking eyes you know so and guys that have a good face I said oh you know this kid got a you know got a chance and he wanted it you always toally Through The Years sitting down with you always talk about the eyes right you you feel like you can learn a lot about a player just looking him in the eyes true that well you know the one that taught me that was was Bo shim Becka I was at the uh Columbus touchdown club and I asked him I says uh you know I got my first manager of the year after 93 and uh uh Rick Leech had always talked about Bo shim Becker always and so I went up hey uh Miss shim Becker can I talk to you he goes U just call me boat and I says well miss shim Beck I said I said how do you know the toughest thing for me was who do you cut the last cut on your team the 25th man if you got between two players cuz that's that's the toughest thing for me every year and so he told me it's in the eyes he says you look in his eyes and you can look at his soul you you can see who the bser is you can tell who the con man is you can tell who's the most sincere and and and and you know who has the guts yeah and U I'm I'm telling you it's uh I'm right most of the time you know thanks to him well you live it so it's easy for you to see too though you know where the truth lies yeah I got you you know what you when Darren was up there in the video and we know he's off play and he couldn't be here tonight I he reminded me of the time when he was the B boy and JT snow had to pull him out of the way before he got hit by the runner oh yeah but you know something he loved it too yes he did like ke Brian Hayes did I mean from the time he was little um you know all he wanted to do was was play ball I mean we'd be in Safeway and he'd hook slide on the on the the tile oh like something that unheard we'd be in the airport and he he he he he hooks light and call your safe you know you're like three years old man you got to kill yourself Grand do goes around that's going to end the inning Dusty Baker as well deserved as there is congratulations all right man sorry to talk through all the action that's what you're for all all right boys take care I'll see you tomorrow yes sir