The Houston Astros are the 2022 World Series Champions and just made a big decision about their manager. The team recently announced they have signed Dusty Baker to a one-year contract extension. This is the third consecutive one-year contract for Baker who joined the team in January 2020 following the sign-stealing scandal.
“I’m happy to be back,” Baker said, per MLB.com. “I had an idea I’d be back. We wanted to complete the tasks that we had at hand and complete the quest for the championship. I wasn’t worried. Like I said before, I really didn’t want any distractions. I’m glad that we got it done. It didn’t take very long. I’m happy, my family’s extremely happy. And we’ll see where we go from here.”
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Baker is on his way to being into the Hall of Fame. Along with becoming the oldest manager to win a World Series (73), Baker picked up his 2,000th win in May. He’s also the only person to record 1,800 career hits as a player and earn 1,800 wins as a manager. And the good thing about Baker returning his he could win another World Series title next season as the Astros are one of the favorites to win it all.
“We’ve got a great nucleus and we’ve got a great young pitching staff,” Baker said. “This is what I like to do and this is what I was called to do. I think God brought me here to Houston to do this. And I’d be going against what I was destined to do if I did anything else at this point in time. I prayed on it and my answer was, ‘Hey man, get your butt back out there and manage again.’”
Baker began his managerial career in MLB in 1993 when he joined the San Francisco Giants. He managed the Giants for 10 seasons and led the team to a World Series appearance in 2002. Baker joined the Chicago Cubs in 2003 and led the team to an NLCS appearance that same year. He was in Chicago for four seasons before joining the Cincinnati Reds in 2008. Baker was with the Reds for six seasons and led the team to two NL Central titles. In 2016, Baker signed with the Washington Nationals and won back-to-back NL East championships. He was let go following the 2017 season.