Dale Says

September 10, 2013

Dusty Taught Her How to Catch

Filed under: Colorful Characters — Dale @ 2:52 pm

Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker was known for a lot of things: playing the outfield, hitting home runs, being a “players’ coach,” winning championships, and being the on-deck batter when Hank Aaron hit home run 715 to pass Babe Ruth in career home runs. He’s even known among some circles for giving the first ever “high five” in baseball.

But that’s not what I remember him for. I remember visiting with his father and wife, who sat in front of us at Candlestick Park – and I remember that he taught a little girl how to catch a baseball.

The incident I’m telling about took place at spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona when Dusty coached the San Francisco Giants, around 2000 or 2001. It was a warm spring day in Arizona, and Dusty and the Giants were playing a spring training game that would eventually mean little to anyone except the players who were sent down afterwards. In those days, there were few fans at spring training games, so we could sit most anywhere we wanted. That day we were sitting in bleacher seats near the Giant’s dugout.

Shortly before the game a woman and her very young daughter approached Dusty behind the Giant’s bench. The woman had a baseball she wanted Dusty to autograph for her daughter. She threw the ball over the fence, followed by a pen. Dusty signed the ball and was about to toss it back over the fence when he noticed the little girl. “Can she catch?” he asked. “No,” the Mom answered, “She doesn’t know how.”

Dusty looked at the little girl and told her to put her hands together, showing her how. He then gently tossed the ball over the fence and into the girl’s hands, where it made a perfect soft landing. The look on her face was priceless! It brought a huge smile to her face and a twinkle to Dusty’s eye. He had taught her how to catch!

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