Dusty Baker could join small list of black managers to win World Series

In the history of Major League Baseball, only two black managers have captured a World Series title. If his Houston Astros can conquer the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 Fall Classic, Dusty Baker would become the third member of a very small club.

Who are the black managers who have won a World Series?

Last season, Dave Roberts became the second black manager to win a World Series when his Los Angeles Dodgers topped the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. Roberts finally found success in his third time managing in the World Series after the Dodgers fell short in 2017 and 2018.

During the 2021 season, Roberts and Baker were the only black MLB managers.

Prior to Roberts, Cito Gaston was the only black manager to win a World Series, taking the Toronto Blue Jays to the 1992 and 1993 titles. The 1993 title was perhaps the most dramatic with Joe Carter crushing a three-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies reliever Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams to give the Blue Jays the Game 6 win and World Series championship.

While the number of black managers is infinitely low, so is the declining number of black players (like Carter) who are active members of MLB rosters. According to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), just 7 percent of players on the 2021 Opening Day rosters were black. That’s slipped from an all-time high of 18.7 percent in 1981.

“Everybody has written about it, but they haven’t done a damn thing about it,” Astros manager Dusty Baker recently said.

This will be the second World Series in which Baker has managed. He last reached the Fall Classic in 2002, leading the San Francisco Giants to the National League title. Baker’s Giants were up 3-2 on the Anaheim Angels before dropping the last two games of the World Series on the road.

On Tuesday night, Baker will become the ninth manager to reach the World Series in both the American League and National League dugouts.

Baker leading the Houston Astros to a World Series title would not only give Baker his first-ever championship (in his 24th year with his fifth different team as an MLB manager), but it would also propel him into a small group of minority managers who have reached the pinnacle of Major League Baseball.