Cal Baseball: Darren Baker 'Excited' About the New Job for His Dad, Dusty Baker
At about the same time that Dusty Baker was being officially introduced as the Houston Astros' new manager, his son, Cal second baseman Darren Baker, was beaming with pride.
"Man, beyond excited," said Darren Thursday regarding his feelings about his dad's new job. "I think his press conference is about 20 minutes from right now. So I've been calling him two, three times a day. I think I'm happier than he is. So is my mom."
In his introductory press conference Thursday, Baker said, "My son is extremely excited. I got to bring him back some gear."
(By the way introductory press conferences don't get much more impressive than this one.)
Dusty Baker and Astros owner Jim Crane
It will present a change for Darren, who was used to seeing his father in the Evans Diamond stands behind first base during home games.
"It's going to be tough not seeing him down the first-base line this year, but he's got bigger things to deal with," Darren said.
Indeed Dusty has to deal with a team that is capable of winning a World Series but also is reeling from the firing of its manager, A.J. Hinch, because of a sign-stealing scandal.
That will keep Dusty occupied while Cal plays its baseball season, which opens with a Feb. 14 game at Long Beach State.
"Just seeing him there [at Cal games], his presence, is a little special for me," Darren said. "[But] I basically played 16, 17 years in the summer when he was coaching, so I'm kind of used to it by now, but I love having him here, of course."
Cal head coach Mike Neu noted Thursday that the team in general will miss Dusty's presence.
"We're all excited," Neu said, while sitting between Darren Baker and Brandon McIlwain. "He's been around. It's been awesome to see him being around our program, obviously getting a chance to see Darren play every day, and even just give our coaching staff availability to him has been amazing.
"His insight, and just being able to have access to that has been awesome, but, you know, for him to get this chance, I mean, we're just really excited for him, especially with such a great opportunity and great team, and I think we're all hoping -- even though we've got a lot of A's people in our program; they'll be battling it out this year -- but for him to have a chance to get that ring, it's pretty cool."