FAYETTEVILLE — Former Major League Baseball star and manager Dusty Baker and his son, Darren, who first came to the nation’s attention during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series, will both be on hand for the Fayetteville Regional this weekend.
Dusty Baker shined for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants for 19 years and is a guest this weekend of former Arkansas pitcher and Dodgers teammate Gerald Hannahs.
Baker was managing the San Francisco Giants in 2002 while 3-year-old Darren was a bat boy. The younger Baker rushed out of the dugout to get a bat before the action stopped against the Anaheim Angels.
San Francisco first baseman J.T. Snow managed to cross the plate and pick up the younger Baker in one swoop to keep him from getting run over by a trailing baserunner or the catcher.
“It is pretty funny,” said Darren Baker, now a 6-foot, 166-pound sophomore second baseman for California hitting .299 with 18 RBI and 19 stolen bases. “I don’t remember it, but it was definitely one of the coolest moments of my life. I look back at it now and just laugh. It is kind of a silly thing to see.”
The moment actually came about because the older Baker, who was on deck with Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth;s record, had been diagnosed with cancer the previous December.
“He doesn’t even remember that,” Dusty Baker said. “At that time I did not know if my cancer was going to be terminal or come back so I was just trying to be around my son all I could in case I didn’t make it.”
After the play, Dusty’s mom reminded him she had predicted it was a bad move.
“My mom told me not to have him as a bat boy because she had a bad feeling about it,” Dusty Baker said. “Right away, I thought about my mom. Right after the game, I went to the clubhouse and I got a call from my mom.
“I said, 'Mom, I can’t talk to you now, the press is here.’ She said ‘you tell them to wait. I am tired of you not listening to me.’”
Darren Baker and second-seeded California (32-18) will meet third-seeded TCU (32-26) at 6 p.m. on Friday after top-seeded Arkansas (41-17) and fourth-seeded Central Connecticut State (30-21) open the regional at 1 p.m.
“Obviously it is great any time you get a chance to play any of the SEC teams, it’s great, but we are here to win these games,” Darren Baker said. “We are young and excited to be here, but we expected to be in this position.”
Dusty Bake hit .278 in his career with 242 home runs, 1,013 RBI and 137 stolen bases for the Braves, Dodgers, Giants and Oakland A's.
In 22 years as a manager with the Giants, Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, he won more than 1,800 games and owns a .532 winning percentage.
He is also credited with being part of the first high five in baseball with Dodgers teammate Glen Burke.
Baker launched his 30th home run on the last day of the 1981 regular season to join Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Reggie Smith as the only four teammates ever with 30 home runs at the time.They would go on to win the World Series.
“His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back," Baker said. "So I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do.”
Baker made such an impression on Hannahs that he named his son Dusty, who went on to play basketball for the Razorbacks and was on the NBA Memphis Grizzlies roster this season.
“I didn’t even know he had done that,” Baker said. “I remember when we first got Gerald from Montreal. He liked to have fun and had big cajones on the mound on off.…If we are anywhere close we are going to get together and talk about anything and everything.”
Hannahs, who was born in Binghamton, N.Y., but grew up in Little Rock and was the first Expos pitcher to win a game at Olympic Stadium, obviously shares the same sentiment.
“Just one of the best people and best baseball guys there has ever been,” Hannahs said. “Love the man.”
The younger Baker sees the bond between the dads.
“He is a great guy and him and my dad’s relationship is probably as close as it can get,” Darren Baker said.
The sons have also become friends.
“He is a great guy,” Darren Baker said of Dusty Hannahs. “For awhile we would go out - me, him and my dad - and people would yell Dusty and it was him, not my dad and that was strange and I was confused because my dad is the only Dusty I had ever known until then.”
The Nationals fired Baker despite the fact that he won the National League East division in 2016 and 2017, but that turned put to work out well for the family.
“You hate losing jobs, but it has been a great experience for me to be with him,” Dusty Baker said. “My plan was to manage two more years and then be with him his junior year of college, but it has been a godsend to watch him his freshman and sophomore years.
“It is a wonderful experience. The only thing is that I get more nervous at these games than I ever did at my own games when I was playing, managing or whatever. It is kind of tough watching your kid play.”
Baker admits he has tried to be more of a dad than a coach while watching his son the past two years.
“It is a combination of both,” Baker said. “My wife reminds me that I am a dad. I try not be hypercritical or over coach because that would be the tendency of a guy that has been in baseball so long.
“The thing I have to guard against is trying to put 50 years of knowledge into a 20-year-old kid. Because I can see slumps coming and different things and my wife reminds me to wait and let him come to me versus me going to him.”
The younger Baker would like him to be a coach more.
“He does a great job, but sometimes I have to ask him to speak up and help me,” Darren Baker said. “He has never been one of these overbearing dads that forced the game on me, but it helps. I loved the game myself.
“My mom is definitely the peacemaker. If I feel like he is not helping me and holding things back, I go to her and ask her to push him to help me out.”
California coach Mike Neu, whose team reached the NCAA Tournament in his second year at the helm, has loved having the former major leaguer around his program the last two years.
“We got a chance to recruit Darren and go through that process with Dusty,” Neu said. “Obviously feel great that he felt comfortable with having him in our program. Now with him being around for a couple of years, I have talked to Dusty quite a bit and he has some great insight.
“Obviously, I don’t know if there is anyone in the world who has a better understanding of baseball and experience in the game so to have him as a resource at times is great and he is more than happy to help out and it has been great having him around and is a great supporter of the program.
“Anytime I get a chance to talk baseball with him, I am trying to soak it in. He has been around Hank Aaron as a player, his playing days were unbelievable and that is not even including his coaching experience so I think I would be dumb to not pick his brain and learn some things so every time I get the opportunity I do that.”
He has loved having the younger Baker around as well.
“He is an exciting player,” Neu said. “He plays great defense, really understands the game, has a great feel for the game, grew up around a big league clubhouse so he is probably a little more mature than another guy his age. He knows what is going to happen next.”
Darren Baker credits Cal assistant Noah Jackson, who started his playing career at Arkansas before finishing up with the Bears from 2001-2003, as a reason he chose the Pac-12 school.
“He has definitely been a huge influence for me,” Baker said. “He is someone I trust and is here every day for me. He is kind of like a big brother to me on and off the field. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Baker plays on the same side of the field as Cal first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who is projected to be a top-10 pick in the 2019 MLB Draft on June 3-5.
Vaughn won the 2018 Golden Spikes award as the nation’s top collegiate last season after hitting .402 with a school-record tying 23 homers.
Batting .387 with 15 homers, 49 RBI and a Cal-record 58 walks (23 intentional) this season, Vaughn is one of four Golden Spikes finalists this season and could become the first multiple winner of the award.
“I think he is the best hitter in the country,” Darren Baker said. “I have had the pleasure to play right next to him for my two years and he has really shown me the ropes. He won the Golden Spikes last year in my first year and he is just unbelievable. He is top-notch, first-class guy.”
It is a mutual admiration society, Vaughn said.
“He (Baker) is one of the most baseball savvy guys that I have ever been around,” Vaughn said. “He just knows the game so well and is so good at putting the bat on the ball. His range on second base is so improved. He has blown me away how much he has improved from last year to this year. He is so smart and learns just like that.
“He definitely gets hard on himself sometimes, but he loves the game.”
Baker believes he has improved since his freshman season, when he hit .273 with 1 home run, 23 RBI and 3 errors.
“I feel a huge difference,” Darren Baker said. “It is kind of hard to play as a freshman; the season is a lot longer than the high school season, but I feel like I learned some things from last year. I got hurt and missed the last 10 games. I am just taking care of my body as the season goes better.”
Baker was a 27th-round pick of the Nationals in 2017, but decided college was a better route for him.
“The main reason I came to college was while I had some talent, I wasn’t mentally or physically where I needed to be,” Darren Baker said. “I feel like a lot of kids you see now decide to come to college. Matt McClain from UCLA turned down some money to come from college.
“It really is better than some minor leagues, especially here seeing this place. I have seen so much baseball in my life and this really is top notch for college baseball.”