The Houston Astros are currently in Minnesota for a three-game set with the Twins. But after Saturday’s afternoon game, Dusty Baker didn’t stay up all night trying to figure out why his bullpen gave up a five-spot in the bottom of the eighth inning. No, the Astros’ manager had other ideas.
The 73-year-old Baker went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers show Saturday night at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. He even got to go backstage thanks to some connections he made during his long-tenured managerial career.
“My spirit [needed] that,” Baker said via Brian McTaggart, the Astros beat reporter for MLB.com.
He went backstage and even managed to get a shoutout on Twitter from Flea, the Australian-American musician, who is a founding member and bassist of the rock band. Baker met Flea through former Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo, because of course he did.
“I know Flea,” said Baker prior to Sunday’s series finale. “I met him through Bronson. Bronson and Flea are friends.”
Naturally, the MLB world had a lot to say about Baker making a surprise appearance at the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert on Saturday night.
“Dusty is way cooler than everyone,” wrote D.J. Short.
“Dusty flat out rules,” tweeted Daniel Gleason. “What a treasure this man is.”
“Fever dream of a sentence,” said Eric Lauzin.
“You can connect Dusty Baker with any name in the World and nothing would surprise me anymore,” said Steve Grande, who serves as the Astros’ Director of Communications.
“Dusty Baker should be in the Hall of Fame for all the cool stuff he gets to do,” wrote Jonathan Feng.
“absolutely tremendous,” said ESPN’s Clinton Yates.
[Brian McTaggart on Twitter]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.