 |
Reds' Manager Dusty Baker has a 380-366
career record with the Cincinnati Reds, but
has
only one winning season to his credit. |
The Cincinnati Reds have bounced from manager to manager without any success since Jack McKeon took his 291-259 record as a Reds skipper and went down south, capped off by winning the World Series with the Florida Marlins in 2003. Since McKeon left in 2000, Reds managers have turned in losing season after losing season, going a combined 514-620 and losing 90 games in a season three times in the process. Dusty Baker, whose first season was in 2008 for the Reds, didn't change things overnight. He endured two losing campaigns before breaking through in 2010 with a 91-71 record and the Reds' first playoff appearance in fifteen years. It seemed as though Dusty Baker brought his winning ways to the baseball-starved city of Cincinnati.
Dusty brought something else, too: the perpetual criticism of his managerial style.
Before anyone writes me off as a Dusty Baker apologist, I assure you that's not my intention. No, I am as critical of Dusty at times as any other Reds fan. However, I think any critic of Dusty Baker must prove their credibility by giving credit where credit is due.