Dusty Baker had a long, successful career as both a Major League Baseball player and a team manager. He now works as a consultant to the CEO of the San Francisco Giants and is also the owner of his own vineyard in West Sacramento: Dusty Baker Family Wines. Yet Baker credits most of his success to the positive impact of coaches during his formative years. 

At the age of 15, his family moved to Granite Bay; not only was he the new kid in town, but one of only a handful of African Americans at his school (the others, he jokes, were his siblings). During that time, his parents also went through a divorce, but Baker credits the influence of high school coaches for getting him through the tougher times. 

He was drafted right out of high school and still looks back fondly on how baseball legend Hank Aaron took him under his wing. “He promised my mother that if she’d let me sign, he’d take care of me as if I was his own kid.” Baker wound up spending 19 years as a hard-hitting outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, before moving on to his managing career. For 37 years, he ran a baseball training camp for kids, the Dusty Baker International Baseball Academy; he’s also an advisory board member for Positive Coaching Alliance (positivecoach.org), a nonprofit that advocates for positive coach-athlete interactions. For Baker, it’s all about paying it forward. “Being successful means spreading the knowledge and the wealth,” he shares. “That’s everlasting to me.” 

By Amber Foster

Q&A

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I’d tell myself how unimportant most things that you worry about really are.

What comes to you naturally? 

Giving and being responsible.

What’s your biggest pet peeve? 

A messy room with an unmade bed.

What are you most proud of? 

My two kids. 

Favorite humanitarian cause? 

Mental illness and homelessness. 

Best words of wisdom you’ve received?

Be nervous, but never scared.

Favorites

Howard Bryant, Leonard Koppett, Nelson Mandela