Dusty Baker Looking for High Five Redo; Time to Bring Back the Athletics' Bash?

Dusty Baker, the new Houston manager, believes a more sanitary celebration to replace the High Five once baseball returns. A one-time outfield teammates of Jose Canseco and (briefly) Mark McGwire with the Athletics, Baker seems to be looking beyond the Bash.

Over the years we’ve come to think of Dusty Baker mostly as a manager.

To be fair, he’s earned that. He’s managed four different teams – the Astros will be the fifth when the 2020 season finally gets going – and in 22 seasons he has led his team to first-place finished seven times and to second-place finishes seven other times.

But he was a pretty good ballplayer, too, mostly with the Braves and Dodgers, although he finished his 19-year career with three seasons in the Bay Area, one year with the Giants in 1984 and two years with the A’s in 1985-86. He was an All-Star, a Gold Glove winner, a silver slugger winner and the National League Championship Series MVP in 1977 with the Dodgers playing against the Phillies.

And he was the junior member of the invention of the high-five, the celebratory hand slap that has been with us for more that 40 years. He was on the receiving end with the Dodgers in 1977 when Glenn Burke, who would later finish his career with the A’s, greeted him at home plate with something special.

Join Dusty Baker, the #AstrosFoundation, @SCJohnson, and @SavetheChildren in celebrating #NationalHighFiveDay.

What’s your version of #TheNextHighFive? 🤙 pic.twitter.com/6VX4PLZdna

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 16, 2020

Baker had just hit his 30 homer, making the Dodgers the first team in big league history with four players with 30 or more homers. Burke, waiting at the plate had his hand up high, at least head level, when Baker had every right to expect the standard handshake. Baker reacted by slapping it, saying later, “it seemed like the thing to do.”

For more than 40 years, it seems that everyone thought it was the thing to do, with some variations.

It no longer seems like the thing to do. In the age of the COVID-19 coronavirus, a new age of hygienic has come into play. And Baker, in his first year with the Astros after the firing of A.J. Hinch in the wake of the Astros’ sign-stealing cheating scandal, is looking for recommendations for a replacement for the high five.

Remember Don’t Shake Hands, Bash Instead! #CoronaVirus #WashYourHands pic.twitter.com/nIypL0nMS3

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) March 14, 2020

He’s teamed with SC Johnson and the Save the Children organization to create an online challenge with the hashtag #TheNextHighFive, inviting fans to try and come up with a better alternative to the high five he helped birth.

Baker apparently doesn’t follow Jose Canseco on twitter. Canseco jumped into the fray early, suggesting a rebirth of the A’s Bash of the 1980s and 1990. An “X” created by the bumping of forearms would seem to be one way lower dangerous contact.

But not, apparently, the only way, because the search is ongoing.

Baker was a regular in the outfield when Canseco came up in 1985 and was a part-time outfielder in 1986 when Canseco had a breakout Rookie of the Year season. He was for a few weeks a teammate of fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire, who came up in August of 1986.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.