He hasn’t managed the Cubs since October 1, 2006, and since he left the Cubs have been one of the best teams in all of baseball. So why do Cubs fans still insist on booing Dusty Baker whenever he pokes his head out of the visitor’s dugout at Wrigley Field?
Some would have you believe it has nothing to do with anything he did as manager, it has everything to do with racism.
Others think it’s because the Cubs were epically terrible in his final season, 2006 when they were a mind boggling 66-96, finishing last in the National League in wins, walks allowed, walks taken, on base percentage and shitty baserunning.
E-ramis and Derrek Lee are constantly amazed how much Cubs’ fans hate Dusty Baker, even though he’s been gone for three seasons now. They seem to think that the fans are booing because the Cubs were terrible in Dusty’s last season, 2006. But that’s not fair, Dusty did things in all four seasons that merit him being booed in perpetuity. These things include, but are not limited to:
- Spending the eighth inning of game six in 2003 looking confused as a lead and the pennant went down the tubes
- Allowing LaTroy Hawkins, Kent Mercker and Moises Alou to sink the Cubs’ playoff chances with pre-pubescent behavior during the entire 2004 season
- Playing Neifi
- An assortment of ignorant, laughable statements on things as mundane as the value of his own taking walks, the detrimental effects of walking batters on other teams to his crackpot theory about which players were “bred” to play day baseball
- Always finding someone to blame for his teams’ misfortunes other than himself
- His bullpen management made Tom Trebelhorn look like a sage, and he piled enormous pitch counts up on young starters Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano
- He allowed Prior to keep pitching after the prized 22 year old fell onto his pitching shoulder and was in obvious agony
- Leading off Corey Patterson because Corey was fast
- Always batting the second baseman second, no matter who it was
- Telling thousands of pointless Hank Aaron stories that were really somehow about Dusty
- More than two dozen reports of individual acts of perversion so profound and disgusting that decorum prohibits listing them here.
Ok, the last one was from Animal House, but you know what I mean.
So what does it say about Cubs’ fans that they had a guy who has been one of the most successful managers in the big leagues for more than 20 years, and they can’t boo him loudly enough.
Maybe it’s because the manager wasn’t all that great.
Dusty’s rookie year as a manager in San Francisco was undeniably impressive. The team added some chump named Barry Bonds and won 103 games, losing an epic divisional race to the Atlanta Braves on the final day of the season. Then, they finished under .500 for three straight years. in 1997 they won 90 games and went to the playoffs, and got swept by the Marlins. In 1998 they somehow lost a play-in game to the Cubs.
That year, Barry Bonds looked at how big Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had gotten and decided he wanted some of that. His numbers (and Dusty’s were about to blow up.)
With a steroid fueled Bonds in tow, his Giants won 90 games three of the next four years, including a 95 win 2000 and 97 win 2002. They won the NL pennant in 2002 and until they collapsed in epic fashion in game six of the World Series seemed on their way to their first world title since the team moved to California.
During that season he allowed his three year old son (THREE!) to serve as an on-field bat boy, and Darren was nearly trampled to death on the field during a World Series game.
Dusty was so beloved by the Giants that he was not asked to come back for the 2003 season, and signed with the Cubs. Dusty said he didn’t want to sit out a year because he felt when minority managers don’t work every year they end up forgotten and can’t find a job. He also owed a seven figure settlement to the IRS and the Cubs’ four million dollar annual salary certainly helped with that.
Joining the Cubs in 2003, Dusty had a steroid-riddled superstar on that team, too and in his first season he brought a division championship, the first Chicago postseason series win since 1917 and a 3-1 lead in the best of seven NLCS.
Despite the collapse in 2003, Dusty was the toast of the town after that season. His attitude that the Cubs’ shouldn’t take any crap appealed to a fan base so used to watching them take lots of crap from everyone. During the 2003 season he had memorable dust-ups with Tony LaRussa and umpires and anybody else who looked to stand in the Cubs’ way.
But in 2004, with a more talented team, that fire was non-existent in Dusty. His players, unchecked, turned out to be petulant turds, too busy arguing with the media and umpires to focus on the task at hand. No distraction was too tempting to engage in for Dusty or his players.
By the end of that season, Sosa was shipped out of town, his roided-up prime now behind him.
In Dusty’s last two seasons, the Cubs posted losing records, he seemed disinterested and everyone on both sides just wanted it to end.
If “Game of Shadows” the account of Barry Bonds’ Balco involvement has it’s timeline right, and if one can assume that Sammy Sosa’s enormous weight (and production) increase was fueled by something…unnatural, Dusty’s record isn’t nearly as impressive as you might think.
Between 1999 and 2004, Dusty had a premier offensive player, likely doped up on steroids, on his team and during that span he went 545-426 (.561) with six winning seasons, three playoff appearances, two NLCS appearances and a World Series appearance. That doesn’t even include the unbelievable performances the Giants were routinely getting out of seemingly washed up veterans like Benito Santiago, Reggie Sanders, Rich Aurilia and Marvin Benard. It’s almost like San Francisco was ground zero for a world-wide performance enhancing drug cartel. Dusty of course, knew nothing about it, even if one of the guys who he allowed to hang out in his clubhouse at all hours is still in federal prison for his role in Balco.
In his other nine seasons (six in San Francisco, two in Chicago and last year in Cincinnati) when Dusty didn’t have a steroid fueled slugger (though he did have Bonds for those six seasons in SF and Bonds was a Hall of Fame caliber player in the prime of his career) his teams went 691-703 (.495) and one playoff appearance.
Dusty’s teams have had winning records nine times in his 15 seasons, six of those during seasons in which Barry or Sammy were wearing larger hat sizes than normal.
So maybe, just maybe, Dusty’s still being booed because Cubs’ fans feel like he was a fraud, and that it took them longer than they feel like it should have to catch on.
I know it’s how I feel.
Well done, Andy.
For me, it started with that abortion of a 2004 team–which was the best collection of talent this team has had in my lifetime prior to the current bunch–and his absolute insistence on batting Patterson and Neifi #1 and #2 in 2005 merely sealed the deal for me. I don’t know how I managed to survive the last 1.5 years of his willfull, contrarian stubborness.
In retrospect, I would also like to submit his leaving Prior in for a metric ass-ton of pitches while the Cubs were winning handily in Game 2 of the ’03 NLCS. While his sitting on his hands routine in Game 6 is noteworthy, had Baker pulled Prior in Game 2, Prior may not have run out of gas the next time out.
Hey dudes, just because the score was 11-0 after 5 innings in Game 2, you never know. Gotta have your horses out there to seal the deal. Dude.
Why do they still boo Dusty? Because they’re cowards? Because they’re too simple-minded to understand that the 2006 team was bad with or without Dusty? Because Cubs fans are typically too dumb to even piss in the toilet? Because they like to have someone to blame to feel better about the time they wasted rooting for the team? Because Cubs fans are crying little bitches without a shred of dignity or intelligence?
I vote all of the above. All of you are just too fucking stupid to realize it.
Go fuck yourself.
I’m definitely a coward. I’m afraid of the Cubs so I blame Dusty. I’m afraid of admitting that I’ve wasted my time. Yep, that’s it. You fucking mor…ah, fuck – I’ve pissed all over the floor again.
Cubs fans are obnoxious. I can’t attest to the Yankees or Redsox, but this team disgusts me. They are so typical. Booing Dusty, typical cubs fan.
I have to go now because Joe Buck and I are going out to dinner and then see a double feature of Randy Moss and the infamous Cubs/Reds game and talk about how disgusted we are.
I am #4
Dude, speed don’t slump dude. That’s why Corey Patterson and Wily Taveras are good hitters man.
David, you are a righteous dude, dude.
Actually, we were first in shitty baserunning.
Using this as a guide, LaRussa has to be one of the worst managers’ ever for not winning with a roided up Big Mac..of course he did manage to get swept in 1990 with 2 roided up guys.
Um, “HOF caliber”?!? This implies that the HOF players were comparable to me. When I was in my prime, I was very likely the best regular player ever. If not the best, there are maybe two players in the Hall that you could make legitimate arguments were better than me.
Calling me “a premier offensive player” is an understatement, as the “a” implies there were others in my class. I was “the premier” talent of my generation and likely of all time.
When I was juicing, I was the baddest ass ever (and yes pun was intended).
Interesting…….that’s a long winded excuse. Jerry Hairston Jr nailed it: “I think they’re just bitter in general. They feel like they’re owed something.”. Meanwhile, has that $170 Million team learned how to hit that 22 year old from Cincy yet?
If I had been in the dugout in ’03 and ’04 this team would have won back-to-back titles.
Period.
Where would I be without the divine insight from ManhattanHoosier (Oh god, Manhattan and a Hoosier? My condolences.) or David?
Dur, the reason the Cubs sucked in 2004-05-06 was because Cub fans were whiny bitches. It all makes so much sense now. It was my whiny bitchdom in 2003 that kept Prior in with an 11 run lead. It was my whiny bitchdom that made the 2006 such an abortion of a baseball team.
Thanks guys, now I know that with a chipper attitude and positive outlook on life, I can will the 2009 Cubs to a world series.
IT’S GONNA HAPPEN!!1
I just woke up, so forgive the grammatical errors. Or fuck you, if you don’t.
I’ma boo the shit out of this player. Then beg for an autograph.
Who you calling a coward, David? I don’t need these 40,000 people around me to boo these players!
I haven’t made watching the 2007-9 seasons much fun.
Since Bichette seems a little retarded, I thought I’d respond to his comment. He needs all the help he can get after all. The It’s gonna happen shirts or slogans piss me off as much as dumbfuck fans like the ones here. I don’t care if they win or lose. The Cubs are my favorite team, but I’m a rational human being who has little invested with this team other than his time.
The funny part about this is just how ignorant you all look. Whether it’s justified or not (and Andy’s shit above is the weakest excuse for his failed and miserable life as I’ve ever seen), the guy is gone. Do you honestly think Dusty Baker cares at all what you think? The guy is making millions of dollars and laughing his ass off. At all of you. If that weren’t the case, this kind of idiocy would be frustrating, but the very fact that Andy spent so much time writing this and that so many of you agree is why this is funny.
it’s like high school here. And all of you are repeating the 10th grade for the 15th time.
I hope Andy writes more stuff like this. It’s priceless. It’s rare that you find someone so willing to display to the world just how ignorant they are. In that respect, I praise Andy (and the rest of you).
Keep up the good work.
You mean the regular readers of this site think similarly? That’s crazy talk.
“I don’t care if they win or lose. The Cubs are my favorite team, but I’m a rational human being who has little invested with this team other than his time.”
I too, care little if my favorite team wins or loses. Man, people who care about shit are retarded.
David, shut up and go eat your bologna sandwiches with Yellon.
David, stop posting and get back to licking my anus!
This site is a perfect example of parents who should have had an abortion. You can still help out though. Do us all a favor and take a bath with a toaster tonight. Since most of you have the intelligence of ant, make sure the toaster is plugged in. It won’t work if it isn’t.
#22, it’s a game. Stop being a homer. There are other teams you can go boo and maybe even throw shit on the field. That sounds like fun.
I realize asking you to kill yourselves may be a bit much. It’s the right thing to do, but none of you are smart enough to figure that out. Anyway, can’t you all at least get together on one blog or maybe meet up after your learning impaired classes? Why does there need to be so many Cubs blogs that are just as retarded as the other one. You’ve got this site full of retards, this one too, and another one here. It’s not like there needs to be sites that are filled with the same exact intelligence level. Wouldn’t you agree? Can’t you just merge these sites together and stop making Cubs fans look like the piles of shit that you guys are? Please. It’s not that much to ask.
So David, how do you feel about statfags?
It depends, Feesh. Are they taking queer photos in quasi-papal outfits?
This is excellent. I disagree with booing Marquis, Rusch, and certainly Bradley, but Dusty deserves every boo he hears from Cubs fans. Fuck that fraud.
How is he a fraud? I don’t like Baker any more than the rest of you, but the man wasn’t a fraud. Here are the definitions of fraud that we should run down about right now.
intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right
No. That doesn’t apply.
an act of deceiving or misrepresenting
Nope.
a person who is not what he or she pretends to be
Huh-uh. Dusty is a major league manager and to the best of my knowledge he has never pretended otherwise.
one that is not what it seems or is represented to be
Sorry. Dusty was a good manager in San Francisco. That’s a matter of record. You can look it up. If you believe he suddenly became a bad manager in 2005 and should have resigned then i expect all of you will resign when you turn about 45 because the most productive days of your life are over at that point and you shouldn’t be a fraud like Dusty. I don’t know what you’ll do from 45 until you die (toaster, bath?), but if you’re going to whine about Dusty being a fraud then you’d best not work after 45.
I’m not sure that you guys realize how ridiculous this is. You’re like little 15 year old girls who just got dumped. Seriously, Andy’s post and some of the comments here make me embarrassed that I am a human being like the rest of you. Grow the fuck up! Read a baseball book about stats, or read any book about stats so that you have a better understanding of probability and how it applies to everything we do. Jesus. This isn’t that hard to understand people.
You’ve got a choice. You can either remain retarded and ignorant or you can do something about it. Sadly, I have no doubt you’ll all do nothing because you’re as ignorant and self-righteous as Dusty Baker is.
If you choose option 1 as we all know you ignorant fucks will, please do us a favor and remove yourself from the gene pool. The very least you could do is let your stupidity end with you.
Unbelievable. It’s like talking to a group of 15 year old retards who just got dumped.
You make excellent points, David. I think you’re very convincing.
But you might want to stop cutting your Prozac in half.
I’ll make you a deal, Andy. I’ll stop cutting my prozac in half if you remove yourself from this planet in any way you choose. That is the only way you’ll leave this planet better than you found it. Deal?
Isn’t making Cubs fans dumber for 10 years enough?
Dusty = Poopy
Hey Andy,
I used to get fan mail like this.