Before Dusty Baker drove home after Astros games, he made a stop.
Night after night, the championship manager would gather the leftover food from the clubhouse, package it up, and drive to the Interstate 69 underpass, where he quietly handed it out to Houston’s homeless. Sometimes he drove downtown, looking for a woman he called “Mama”, who lived in a cardboard box and would distribute the food to others nearby.
He never told anyone. He didn’t want the attention.
Baker was eventually caught by Astros infielder Mauricio Dubón, who spotted him one night from his car and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Baker pleaded with Dubón to keep the secret, and Dubón honored it, until now.
“That’s what kind of man he was,” Dubón, now with Atlanta, told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “Someone who was so instrumental to my career, and really in my life. I’ll never forget him.”
The story is one of many in Baker’s forthcoming autobiography, “Crossroads,” co-written with Steve Kettmann and due out June 9 from Crown Publishing. In it, Baker reveals that the Astros discouraged his nightly ritual, concerned that someone could get sick and expose the organization to legal liability. He ignored them.
Every time he handed out food, Baker thought of his late brother Vic, who struggled with mental illness and experienced homeless himself before his death in 2019 at the age of 63.
Mama clearly knew who he was all along—she simply kept it to herself. Until one night after a loss, when she called out to him by name and told him the team needed to play better. He was, as he put it, busted.
Baker, 76, managed the Astros from 2020 through 2023 and led the team to a World Series championship. He is expected to be considered for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the contemporary era committee this December. “Crossroads” is due out June 9.
Baker never wanted the story told. Now that it has been, it says as much about the man as any win ever could.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check the Astros promotions schedule before your next game.
Photo by All-Pro Reels via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
