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sportsMay 13, 20261:10:29pending

Dusty Baker's 50-year Baseball Odyssey

All The Smoke

About this episode

Matt sits down with one of baseball's most remarkable figures — Dusty Baker. A 19-year career as a player, one of the greatest managerial runs in the sport's history, and a front-row seat to some of the most defining moments in baseball history.

Dusty opens up about breaking into professional baseball in the Deep South in 1968, navigating sundown laws as a young Black man in the minor leagues, and what it was really like to come of age during one of the most turbulent eras in American history. He shares what it meant to be taken under the wing of legends, like Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige, and how those early experiences shaped the way he led clubhouses for decades.

He also gets into managing Barry Bonds through one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history,, the infamous Bartman game in Chicago, inheriting the Houston Astros in the middle of a scandal, and finally winning it all at 73 years old — becoming the oldest manager in history to win a World Series.

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Dusty Baker's 50-year Baseball Odyssey

All The Smoke

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