“If Henry is watching down, he will enjoy this World Series because of Dusty, above all,” Bud Selig said of Dusty Baker, who bonded with Aaron in their time together in Atlanta.
As Ralph Garr remembers it, the kid from Sacramento could have made it big in any sport. The Atlanta Braves chose Johnnie B. Baker Jr., known as Dusty, out of high school in the 26th round of the 1967 draft. They knew he had options, but they also had a secret weapon. “Dusty could have made the major leagues in football, basketball or baseball, and I don’t think he cared as much about baseball,” said Garr, a third-round draft choice that year. “But Dusty was drafted by the Braves, and Henry Aaron called his mother and said he’d take care of him.” Aaron was 33 years old and on his way to breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record. When Aaron did it, with homer No.715 in 1974, Christine Baker’s son was in the on-deck circle at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It was a case, you might say, of slugger knows best. “I prayed not to go to the Braves,” Baker said on Sunday, in the dugout at Minute Maid Park, where his Houston Astros will host Atlanta in the World Series opener on Tuesday. “There were freedom marches, riots, segregation, anti-Vietnam, anti-short-hair — I mean, there was a lot of turmoil, and all the Braves’ teams were in the South. The deep, Deep South. “But that was the best thing to ever happen to me, because I wouldn’t have met Hank Aaron.” Aaron died in January at age 86. He remains an inspiration for Baker,72, who is managing in the World Series for the first time since 2002. For Aaron’s protégé and primary team to meet in the World Series, just nine months after his death, is a reminder of a legacy that went far beyond home runs. “If Henry is watching down, he will enjoy this World Series because of Dusty, above all,” Bud Selig, a former commissioner of Major League Baseball, said by phone on Sunday. “Certainly because of Atlanta, too. But mostly Dusty.” Aaron was one of Selig’s closest confidants, with a friendship dating to the Braves’ years in Milwaukee and Selig’s ownership of the Brewers, Aaron’s final stop in a 23-year playing career that ended in 1976. Aaron was quiet and thoughtful, Selig said, a decent and loyal man who kept his bond with Baker until the end.
