2,000 Wins — Baseball Bench Coach

The 2002 World Series provided the baseball world with some great memories. The Angels defeated the Giants 4 games to 3 in the first ever Series that matched two Wild Card entrants. The teams combined for 21 home runs in the Series, a record that stood for 15 years. Yet, the image that we all remember is during the seventh inning of Game 5. The Giants’ Kenny Lofton tripled with two runners on base. As the San Francisco baserunners raced to home plate, Darren Baker, the toddler son of Giants’ manager Dusty Baker, ran to get Lofton’s bat. Fortunately, Giants first baseman J.T. Snow grabbed Darren before there was a collision at home plate. Baker’s son was saved!

Earlier this month, almost 20 years later, now Astros skipper Dusty Baker recorded his 2,000th managerial win in a 4-0 victory against the Mariners. He became the twelfth manager and first Black manager ever to reach the milestone. Baker began his managerial career with the Giants in 1993 and helmed the San Francisco dugout for 10 years. Along the way, he’s also managed the Cubs (2003-2006), Reds (2008-2013), Nationals (2016-2017), and now Astros (2020-2022). When Dusty took Houston to the playoffs in 2020, he became the first manager ever to lead five different teams to a division title and postseason play. Leading the Astros to the AL pennant last year, he also became just the ninth manager to win pennants in both leagues. Baker though also has the distinction of the manager with the most wins who has never won the World Series.

Baker’s long-time rival in an opposing dugout, Tony LaRussa, has won his fair share of games as well. Tony is the winningest, active manager, with over 2,800 wins and is second on the all-time list. LaRussa began his managerial career in 1979 at age 34. He brought a division title to the White Sox in 1983, and then captured three World titles heading the Oakland Athletics (1989) and the St. Louis Cardinals (2006 and 2011). Tony’s Cardinals faced Baker’s Cubs and Reds in some hotly contested games over the years. Among LaRussa’s accomplishments, he has been voted the manager of the year four times and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014. After some time away from the field, Tony returned to the White Sox dugout last season, leading the Southsiders to their first division title in 13 years.

Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 years (1901-1950), is the all-time leader with 3,731 wins, a record that undoubtedly will never be broken. His number of games managed (7,755) and losses (3,948) also will be atop of the record books long into the future. Mack’s Athletics won 5 World Series titles during his tenure as manager (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930). He entered the Hall of Fame in 1937. That same year another winning manager, John McGraw of the New York Giants, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. McGraw managed the Giants for 29 years (1902-1930). Prior to that, he was the skipper of the then NL Baltimore Orioles for two seasons. McGraw holds the National League record with 31 seasons managed and is third on the all-time wins list (2,763 wins).

The top 10 of winningest managers has a group of “statesmen”. Walter Alston, known as the “Quiet Man”, managed the Dodgers for 23 seasons. His accomplishments include 6-time manager of the year, 7 NL pennants, 4 World Series titles, and 2,040 wins (9th all-time). Alston was a true gentleman, believing that every day was a privilege to manage. Accordingly, he signed 23 one-year contracts! Joe Torre, one of the most respected baseball men ever, is also in this category. His managerial career included 2,326 wins (5th all-time), six AL pennants, and four world championships with the Yankees. Torre also served as MLB’s chief baseball officer from 2011 to 2020.

Sparky Anderson, another statesman, has the distinction of being the first skipper to win the World Series in both leagues (Reds in 1975 and 1976; Tigers in 1984). Sparky was the consummate professional and one of the great “player managers”. His 2,194 career managerial wins place him 6th on the all-time list. Anderson did get a little fiery at times, as did a couple others on the 2,000 wins list, Bobby Cox (2,504 wins; 4th on the list) and Leo Durocher (2,008 wins; 9th). Cox, who managed the Braves for 25 years and the Blue Jays for four other seasons, holds the NL managerial record with 16 postseason appearances. He also has the all-time record for ejections from the game with 158! Durocher, affectionately known as “Leo the Lip”, had 95 ejections himself in his somewhat stormy career marked by disputes with not only umpires, but also the media.

Dusty Baker knew that the magic number of 2,000 wins would come early this season. What he didn’t know as he walked to home plate to exchange lineup cards in a spring training game in March is who would greet him there. It was none other than his son Darren, no longer a toddler, but a 23-year old infielder in the Washington Nationals’ minor league system. Dave Martinez, manager of the Nationals, thought it would be a treat to see Dusty and Darren reunited on the playing field. Martinez brought Darren into the game as a defensive substitute at second base in the sixth inning of the game. Darren singled in his first at-bat, and then hit a sacrifice fly to score the winning run for Washington in the eighth. While this game didn’t count in the record books, Dusty had to be smiling about his son once again.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach