by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 4, 2022

Houston Astros’ Dusty Baker Becomes First Black Manager to Win 2,000 Baseball Games in the Major Leagues

Major League Baseball has noted a milestone never before achieved by a Black manager.

With his latest victory, Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker has become the latest manager to win 2,000 games in the MLB while making him the first Black person to do so.

According to MLB.com, The 72-year-old Baker became the 12th AL/NL manager to reach 2,000 wins when the Houston Astors defeated the Seattle Mariners in a shutout win at home, 4-0 at Minute Maid Park.

Baker is destined for the Hall of Fame with his career as a player, executive, and manager. According to ESPN, “Of the 11 managers with more wins than Baker, 10 are in the Hall of Fame, with Bruce Bochy viewed as a lock to get elected when he is eligible for the ballot in December 2023. All 10 Hall of Fame managers with more wins than Baker, however, also have at least one World Series championship, while Bochy won three with the Giants.”

“I think about the people that made it possible for me to get in this position—my dad, Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson, Cito Gaston— the guys who were minority managers ahead of me,” Baker said.

“You look at guys like Maury Wills and some of the guys that I know. To me, everybody is making a bigger thing out of it than me because I’ve got work to do.”

This is just the latest record that Baker has broken. Last season, the Hall of Fame-bound Baker became the first manager to win a division title with five different teams when the Astros won the American League West. He has led teams to pennants in both the American League (2021 Astros) and National League (2002 Giants).

Baker was coaxed out of retirement in January 2020 when the Astros reached out to him to replace their last manager, A.J. Hinch after he was terminated in the sign-stealing scandal that rocked baseball. He had two goals when he signed on, one was getting to his 2000th win, and the second, he was denied a World Series championship when the Astros lost to the Atlanta Braves in six games.

He didn’t win last year, but he has won in the past. He won a World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a player in 1981 and won one as a coach when the San Francisco Giants captured the championship in 1989.


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