Cubs players and personnel greeted former manager Dusty Baker like a long-lost relative before Monday night’s game at Shea Stadium, though Baker kept his distance from general manager Jim Hendry and pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
Baker and Hendry exchanged brief hellos on the field before the game, but they did not shake hands.
Baker, who was on hand in his new role as an ESPN analyst, insisted he has no regrets about his stay in Chicago, despite the rocky ending.
“That’s life,” he said. “Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s not fair.”
One thing Baker does not think is fair is being blamed for the arm injuries to Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, both of whom could be out for the season.
Baker had been criticized for pitching them too much in 2003, when the Cubs won the division title.
“I was the manager; I was the boss,” he said. “I got blamed for a lot of stuff — most stuff. That’s good. Look at my record over 14 years [of managing]. I had very few guys come up hurting.
“I feel bad about them. I tried to preserve them the best I could and win ballgames at the same time. What is enough and what is too much? I think that’ll be a universal question forever and ever.”
Baker said he’ll be coming to Chicago to do a White Sox game for ESPN, but that he’s not ready to call a game at Wrigley Field. He believes Cubs fans would harass him.
“I just don’t need the jeers and the stuff,” he said. “I’ve had enough. Let time heal things, that’s all.”
Asked if it felt weird to be working a Cubs game, Baker said: “A little bit, but it’s baseball.”
Lou Piniella went out of his way to greet Baker before the game, seeking him out near the batting cage.
The two exchanged hugs and spoke in private for a few minutes.
“Dusty’s a good man,” Piniella said. “He’s probably having a good time up there [in the TV booth].”
Baker’s time in Chicago was marked by great expectations after ’03 and a disastrous ending in ’06. He guided a club that came closer to a World Series than any other Cubs team since 1945, but he also was in charge during the final-week collapse in ’04 and for underachieving, injury-plagued seasons in ’05 and ’06.
“I try not to look back on things,” he said. “I look forward. If I look back on things, look back on possibly the fact we lost Mo [Alou] and Sammy [Sosa] after ’04 and we could have reloaded a little better. Or if things were different, guys didn’t get hurt, anything like that. But you’ve got to look forward. Life’s good. Life’s real good.”
