He wonders why he still qualifies as news in Chicago, why people can’t move on, and maybe Dusty Baker has a point.
...
Sitting in the visitors dugout Tuesday night at Miller Park before his team lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, the new manager of the Cincinnati Reds said he is not bitter at how his Cubs career ended. But he did admit it was so difficult leaving Chicago with promises of World Series glory unfulfilled that he would have done almost anything for one more chance.
“I don’t like leaving a job undone or leaving on the bottom,” said Baker, whose fate was all but sealed at the All-Star break of the 2006 season. “Ask Jim Hendry. I even asked (for) one more shot at it because there were some circumstances that were way out of my control at the end.”
...
Among those rooting for him is Reds bench coach Chris Speier, a member of Baker’s Cubs staff who takes exception to the notion that Chicago was a “bad experience” for Baker.
“I don’t see how you can say it’s bad,” Speier said. “They didn’t get to the playoffs and then when he went there, they went to the playoffs. There were limitations as to what the organization was willing to do with their team and as soon as Dusty left, they went out and spent the money we were hoping they would’ve spent when we were there.”
If Baker isn’t bitter about how he left Chicago, his friends are.
“It’s very, very harsh in Chicago,” Speier said. “I don’t think there’s a manager who has been there who hasn’t said Chicago, especially the North Side fans and the media, can be brutally harsh and sometimes unfairly harsh. I’ll be the first one to say it. I think the media was completely unfair with Dusty. I think it was the media’s doing that basically (caused) the change. That’s my opinion, not Dusty’s.”
The Trib sent a reporter up to Milwaukee specifically to talk to an ex-Cubs manager? Okayyyy….
NTNgod
Posted: April 09, 2008 at 04:08 AM |
7 comment(s)
|
Login to Bookmark
Related News:
General,
Chi Cubs
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
Chicago??? The place where they can lose for years on end and still sell tickets? The team that's world famous for being lovable losers? I think this is the first time I've heard somebody complain about that brutal, ruthless Chicago media.
Too bad that "almost anything" didn't include include a sensible workload for his young, talented, fragile starters. It reminds me of Pete Rose saying that he'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball. That's nice, but nobody's asking you to do that, Pete. They just want you to stop betting on games.
You know who I actually feel bad for, in all of this? Pete Mackanin. He took over a Pirates team that was staggering to a .404 W% under Lloyd McClendon, got 'em up to .462 under his watch... and then got dumped for Jim Tracy, who had totally lost control of his clubhouse and tried to stage a coup against his GM in LA. Mackanin picked himself up and started coaching for the Reds, stepped in as the interim manager of a club that had been playing .378 ball under Jerry Narron, led 'em to a .513 the rest of the way... and then got dumped again for Dusty Baker, who had just gotten done fragging the Cubs. Mackanin must've figured that putting the best players on the field and letting 'em win games would be enough. Moron should've invested in some veteranmanagerosity, maybe gotten some face time in a media market.
Well, it is a series between the Cubs' top two division rivals and it's only, what, an hour-and-a-half drive. But, yes, I think there is a bit of an obsession here with Dusty Baker.
He might, but he doesn't have the power to get Chicago newspapers to care about that. There's a weird hunger in these parts for Dusty-news that I can explain in no other way.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main