Dusty reported this time as a World Series-winning manager beloved by everyone who knows him, and many who don’t.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Fifty-five years ago Dusty Baker reported to spring camp here, just like he has a dozen times since for three different teams over that more-than-half-century in this very city. No surprise, Dusty’s changed since coming here as a California kid fresh out of Del Campo High School. But times — and this town — have changed even more. Maybe not completely, but very noticeably so.
Baker played at several minor-league outposts in the South with the Braves — including as a visiting player in Little Rock, Ark., where he was called so many names he considered going back home to Northern California — and was stationed in both Carolinas as a Marine. He camped for years in Vero Beach as a star with the excellent Dodgers teams, and that was no picnic either in the ’70s, he recalled. But back then, this town stood out for racial issues.
The rules aren’t nearly as overt or oppressive, and Baker’s accommodations now are a far cry from the Braves’ minor-league Dinkler Hotel on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., by virtue of all his success, as a ballplayer and then a 25-year major league manager. His son Darren is here as a Washington Nationals minor leaguer, and rooms with his dad, who sets parenting rules — necessary rules. Darren needs to keep his room tidy and get himself up for camp.
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