Dusty Baker is back. By any measure, that's a great thing for baseball.
A Del Campo High School graduate who never lost sight of his roots or an ounce of his genuine good spirit, Baker is reportedly negotiating terms to become the Houston Astros manager.
Baker is the right choice, beyond his pedigree of earning National League Manager of the Year three times, of leading four teams to nine playoff berths and the Giants to the 2002 World Series.
Baker is 70, which would make him the oldest manager in a game heavy on youth, but age doesn't define the man. Class does. He will immediately infuse professionalism and decency for a franchise that sorely needs an image makeover.
Nothing sullies a sport or an organization more than rampant cheating. The Astros defiantly and gleefully stole signs to help pound their way to the 2017 World Series title, the franchise's first and only championship. Then the truth leaked out. It's the most sordid baseball black eye since Black Sox scandal of 1919. The fallout has been rightfully swift.
The cheating led to the termination of Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch, who vehemently denied any notion of cheating the game during the playoffs.
"Houston is getting someone with integrity and stability, and they could not have gotten a better man than Dusty Baker," said Jerry Manuel, another homegrown product who also managed in the majors and a close friend of Baker's.
