Chicago Tribune: Dusty Baker: ‘I want it even more’

He wonders why he still qualifies as news in Chicago, why people can’t move on, and maybe Dusty Baker has a point.
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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.”
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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....