WASHINGTON — At 73, Dusty Baker turned the oldest supervisor ever to win the World Series when the Houston Astros took the title final yr. On Monday at a White House celebration for the crew, President Joe Biden mentioned he might relate.
“People counted you out saying you were past your prime. Hell, I know something about that,” joked Biden, who in 2020 turned the oldest president ever elected, at age 77. Biden, now 80, is working for reelection in 2024.
Baker has been across the sport for many years. He gained a World Series as a participant with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had been to the Fall Classic twice earlier than as a supervisor. He lastly received his first title in his twenty fifth season as a supervisor. The win got here 20 years after a near-miss, when he got here inside 5 outs whereas guiding the San Francisco Giants.
“I remember rooting for him as a kid, and I was older than he was,” Biden quipped.
Baker, now 74, spent the previous three seasons with the Astros after they employed him to assist the crew regain credibility after a sign-stealing scandal price supervisor A.J. Hinch and common supervisor Jeff Luhnow their jobs, and made Houston probably the most reviled crew in baseball.
Baker, like Biden, is engaged on a repeat and says he needs to be again within the White House subsequent yr after successful the title once more.
The crew offered Biden, the forty sixth president, with an honorary jersey with the quantity 46. The MLB trophy was on show in the course of the ceremony within the East Room, the place the crew additionally posed for photographs.
The Astros gained final yr’s World Series over the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies — whose followers embrace first woman Jill Biden. The president usually jokes that he should root for the Phillies or else he’ll be sleeping alone. He joked on Monday that he wouldn’t be capable of set foot in Philadelphia once more after internet hosting the Astros.
This season the Astros are usually not doing too badly, both. They maintain an American League wild-card spot and are 2 1/2 video games behind the first-place Texas Rangers within the AL West. The crew begins a three-game sequence in Baltimore on Tuesday.
Among the gamers in attendance was Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña, who was the World Series MVP as a rookie, the primary time a brand new participant gained the coveted award.
Baker praised his crew in the course of the ceremony.
“They always believed in themselves, prior to me even coming here — that they had the ability to win,” he mentioned. “And they show what perseverance and character can do.”
Besides baseball, Biden spoke of the crew’s help for survivors of the Uvalde, Texas, bloodbath. Last May, a gunman killed 19 kids and two adults at an elementary faculty in Uvalde. Later that summer season, the crew chartered 10 buses and introduced a whole bunch of individuals from Uvalde for a sport in opposition to the Oakland Athletics.
“I think you athletes underestimate how much hope you give,” mentioned Biden, turning to the crew standing on risers behind him. Sports might appear to be solely about successful, however that’s not true of one of the best groups.”
“At best it lifts people up and brings them together and helps them be there for each other.”
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Long reported from Chicago.
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