Crossroads - by Dusty Baker (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Legendary baseball player and manager Dusty Baker reflects on his extraordinary career--filled with invaluable lessons on perseverance, leadership, and living life meaningfully on the field and off--in this "deeply meditative journey into baseball and cultural history" (The Athletic).

"The story of a uniquely American life [from] one of the most beloved people in all of sports."--San Francisco Chronicle

Dusty Baker walked with baseball legends and became one himself. After he signed with the Braves in 1968 at the age of nineteen against his father's wishes, no less than the great Hank Aaron promised to take Baker under his wing. Mentored by Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie Mays, Baker became a premier hitter, helping take the Dodgers to a World Series victory in 1981. He would bookend this with another championship in 2022, this time as a manager helping guide and redeem a Houston Astros team humbled by a cheating scandal. Respected by generations across the game, Baker has come to embody the spirit of the sport--and yet, to discuss his baseball career is only to scratch the surface of a remarkable life.

Crossroads will bring readers into the mind of one of baseball's mavericks: a curious, inquisitive thinker whose deep interest in the worlds of music, wine, and the simpler joys of life charts a journey of success, struggle, faith, and perseverance. Baker's memoir is filled with hard-earned wisdom and a love for life so plentiful, it seems to radiate from every sentence.

A true American original, counting among his friends presidents and dignitaries, bluesmen and artists, Baker weaves a spell of life at the crossroads, where fate turns on our decisions and the unexpected answers that sometimes seek us out when we least expect it.

Review Quotes

"[Crossroads] is the story of a uniquely American life, full of modern day challenges like divorce and financial pressures but also the beauty of living with a curious mind and open heart. . . . It's hard to find a person with a grudge toward Baker, one of the most beloved people in all of sports. Spend a few hours with him and it seems that everyone knows him--the cooks in the kitchen, the parking attendants, the folks on the street--and feels a personal connection."--San Francisco Chronicle

"In his lifetime, the M.L.B. manager has won multiple World Series, shared a joint with Jimi Hendrix, and co-invented the high five. . . . [Baker] has always had a knack for being in the right place at the right time."--The New Yorker

"There are hundreds of jerseys, autographed baseballs and game-used bats. There are boundless photos on the walls bringing bygone eras back to life, from the Negro Leagues to the majors, from black-and-white to the Technicolor splendor of the 1970s and '80s. And what makes [Crossroads] so much damn fun is that Baker has a personal connection to nearly every [one]. . . . [T]he overriding theme of the memoir [is] not that Baker met all of these key figures in baseball history; it's that he listened to them. . . . Crossroads is Baker's origin story, unspooled one personal connection at a time. . . . [It] is a deeply meditative journey into baseball and cultural history. These pages are his Eras Tour, a spin to the zeniths and the nadirs and the meaning of it all."--The Athletic

About the Author

Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker Jr. is the former manager of the Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Washington Nationals. Baker was drafted by the Atlanta Braves after graduating high school in 1967 and went on to win the World Series in 1981 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Baker retired as a player in 1986 and has since become one of the most celebrated managers in MLB history. He was the recipient of Baseball Digest's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.