Future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker has revealed that criticism from what he called “30-year-olds” and “bloggers and tweeters” contributed to his decision to retire from the Houston Astros at the end of the team’s recent postseason run.
The 74-year-old Baker made this revelation during an appearance on “The Steam Room” podcast, hosted by TNT NBA personalities Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley.
Reflecting on his time with the Astros, Baker shared: “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.”
“You spoil people … They think you’re supposed to win this every year running away and it’s not like that,” he said.
“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.'”
“After a while, you just get tired of answering questions,” he added.
Former Astros Manager great Dusty Baker was on the Steam Room podcast with Chuck and Ernie and said he was tired of all “bloggers & tweeters”, which led to him retiring at the end of the 2023 season. For the full interview check it out here. https://t.co/bHdqK6oFam pic.twitter.com/BN7nUK59wo
— 🏆 2X WS Champ Cockenheimer™️🏆 (@astros_dude) November 3, 2023
The Astros achieved their third consecutive division title under Baker’s leadership, despite finishing with the same 90-72 record as the Texas Rangers, thanks to Major League Baseball’s tiebreaker procedures.
Nevertheless, Baker faced his share of second-guessing throughout the season. He referenced “a couple instances, a couple articles, a couple of things that kind of made up my mind late summer,” but did not specify which articles he was referring to.
Some of the criticism was related to tension between Baker and the Astros front office over lineup decisions, notably concerning his choice of starting catcher.
Baker preferred veteran Martín Maldonado, while the front office favored the better-hitting Yainer Díaz.
The Athletic also published an article in September suggesting that the front office was displeased with Baker limiting Chas McCormick’s playing time due to his weight … Baker dismissed the allegation.
Dusty Baker said part of the reason he retired was he was sick of the constant scrutiny from "30-year-olds and bloggers and tweeters?"
Is that the talk of an old man yelling at clouds or does he have a point?
Read: https://t.co/gN3F59jbj6 pic.twitter.com/hlEjumoeR2
— OutKick (@Outkick) November 4, 2023
Throughout his 26-year managerial career, Baker has been a subject of debate, particularly among those who question his strategies and preference for veteran players.
Despite his accomplishments, including leading five different franchises to the postseason, Baker felt that he was not receiving the deference he deserved in his decisions.
Either way, he led a Hall of Fame worthy managerial career and can be proud of what he accomplished in baseball.
What are your thoughts on Dusty?
Will the game miss him???