The Bakery Closes

[Edgy MD]

Dusty Baker has announced his retirement after 26 years of managing. Seventh all-time in wins (and most ever by a manager not in the Hall of Fame), with a .540 winning percentage. Only one championship, though, which makes him second to second only to Bobby Cox with regard to experience as a bridesmaid.



[FIMG=500]https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/GettyImages-1395273017-4x3-1.jpg?w=916[/FIMG]

[DocTee]

Gotta be headed to the HoF. Right?

[whippoorwill]

Honestly I've always hoped he'd be the Mets manager some day

[Frayed Knot]

The Bakery Closes

The judges also would have accepted:

- Dust Bowl Era Ends in Texas

- Dust in the Wind

or

- Johnnie B. Gone*





*

[Edgy MD]

I don't think voters on veteran ballots understand it as such, but yes, they are supposed to take longtimers' legacies on the whole, and consider combined playing-and-managing careers together, as well as combined-playing-and-executiving careers, and even combined-playing-and-umping careers.



As https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/rules/eras-committeesnoted here:

Those whose careers entailed involvement in multiple categories will be considered for their overall contribution to the game of Baseball; however, the specific category in which these individuals shall be considered will be determined by the role in which they were most prominent.

So, Joe Torre was classified as a manager when he was put on a specific veterans committee ballot, but those voting on him were asked to weigh his contributions as a player and as an executive (and a broadcaster!) as well. Assuming the voters correctly did this, he would have been a total slam dunk.

[Edgy MD]

Dusty https://www.yahoo.com/sports/dusty-baker-says-criticism-from-astros-bloggers-and-tweeters-played-role-in-his-decision-to-retire-032308550.htmlpoints a finger at the social media game.

“We had a lot of success here, Ernie and Charles, and then the last couple of months here weren't very pleasant, because we weren't 10 games ahead,” Baker said. “You spoil people. They think you're supposed to win this every year running away, and it's not like that. Every year's different. There was a whole bunch of criticism from 30-year-olds and bloggers and tweeters that I'm not doing this and I don't know that, and I told my wife, ‘You know, I'm kind of tired of this and tired of the scrutiny, and if I could go manage and show up at say 6:30 for a 7 o'clock game and leave 30 minutes after the game, don't do the [pregame and postgame interviews], I could manage for another four or five years.' You know what I mean? After a while, you just get tired of answering questions.”

Thirty-year-olds are the worst.

[G-Fafif]

The Joe Espada Cafe opens in Houston, with the perennial managerial candidate becoming the new Astros manager.