RESUME: Bringing nearly 50 years of professional baseball experience to the job, Dusty Baker was named the Nationals' sixth field manager on Nov. 3, 2015…A threetime National League Manager of the Year (1993, 1997, 2000), Baker enters the 2017 season as the 17th-winningest manager in baseball history, and his 1,766-1,571 career managerial record slots him second in the win column among active managers behind only San Francisco's Bruce Bochy (1,789)...Washington is Baker's fourth managerial stop, coming to the Nationals after time in San Francisco (1993-2002), Chicago (2003-2006) and Cincinnati (2008-2013). An All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and World Series winner during his 19-year playing career, Baker has produced eight Postseason teams during his 21-year managerial career, including six division championships (San Francisco, 1997 & 2000; Chicago, 2003; Cincinnati, 2010 & 2012; Washington, 2016), and two wild card appearances (San Francisco, 2002; Cincinnati, 2013)…A coach for the 1989 Giants World Series team, Baker managed the 2002 San Francisco Giants to the World Series, clinching the National League pennant over the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, before falling in seven games to the Anaheim Angels…His 840 victories with San Francisco rank second only to Hall of Famer John McGraw's 2,604 wins in Giants history, and his 2003-04 Cubs teams were the first to post consecutive winning seasons in Chicago since 1971-72. Leading Washington back to the Postseason in his first year at the club's helm, the former outfielder is one of just three managers in MLB history to take four different teams to the playoffs, joining only former Nationals skipper Davey Johnson and Billy Martin, in the elite managerial company...He is also one of only four in MLB history to produce at least 1,500 hits as a player and win at least 1,500 games as a manager, joining Lou Piniella, Joe Torre and Fred Clarke on that list. A six-time All-Star (twice as a player: 1981 & 1982; three times as a member of the coaching staff: 1994, 1997 & 2001; once as manager: 2003), Baker brings a wealth of experience to the manager's seat in Washington…His teams have finished first or second 13 times in his 21 years, and won at least 90 games in a season on nine occasions.
POSTSEASON CAREER: Baker participated in the postseason four times (1977, 1978, 1981 & 1983), and played in three World Series (1977, 1978, 1981)...He earned himself the National League Championship Series MVP award with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977 (hitting .357 with a .438 on-base percentage an .837 slugging percentage, two home runs and eight RBI in four games against Philadelphia), and a World Series ring, playing left field for the 1981 Dodgers...Selected by the Braves in the 26th round of the 1967 free-agent draft, Baker made his MLB debut the following year (Sept. 7, 1968 vs. HOU), Baker solidified himself as an everyday player with the Braves in the 1970s, and found himself hitting fifth, behind Hank Aaron and in front of former Nationals manager Davey Johnson, during the 1973 and 1974 seasons.
PERSONAL: Born Johnnie B. Baker Jr. on June 15, 1949 in Riverside, Calif., "Dusty" Baker currently resides in California with his wife, Melissa, and has two children, Natosha and Darren...A 1967 graduate of Del Campo High School in Carmichael, Calif., Baker attended American River College in Sacramento, Calif. Baker was inducted into the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, and the California Black Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2015, Baker was enshrined, along with Barry Bonds, in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, and is currently awaiting induction into the Riverside (CA) Sports Hall of Fame on May 16, 2016.
In 1990, Baker was voted by the fans to the Dodgers' All-Time Team during their 100th-anniversary celebration, was voted as the manager of the Giants' All-Time team in 1999, and in 1998 received the Silver Plumes City Ambassador Award from WHERE San Francisco Magazine, presented annually to an individual who largely represents and epitomizes the city's reputation for greatness.
Baker, who is a prostate cancer survivor (2001), served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1969-75...Baker also has experience as a broadcaster, working for ESPN's Baseball Tonight in 2007 and, most recently, for TBS as a studio analyst during the 2015 postseason.