Tony La Russa brought out the evil twin in Dusty Baker.
On Sept. 3, 2003, the Cardinals and Cubs played the fourth game of an intense five-game series at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. La Russa, the Cardinals’ manager, and Baker, the Cubs’ manager, engaged in a shouting match that added a memorable but ugly chapter to the rivalry between the franchises.
In the second inning, Cubs starter Matt Clement hit Cardinals pitcher Dan Haren with a pitch. An inning later, Haren hit Clement. That prompted the theatrics from the managers.
Baker rushed onto the field, confronted the umpires, then pointed angrily at the visitors’ dugout, where La Russa stood, glaring.
“Even back in the dugout, Baker kept pointing and yelling as La Russa smirked,” wrote Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti.
“Baker hollered, ‘I’ll (mess) you up,’ at La Russa,” wrote St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz.
“TV cameras caught Baker telling La Russa he’d gladly take him on any time and La Russa telling him to bring it on,” reported Mike Kiley of the Sun-Times.
“The two managers yelled at each other from across the field,” wrote Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch. “Baker at one point flipped an obscene gesture at La Russa.”
Wrote Miklasz: “A rumpus with an opposing manager makes La Russa’s blood surge and raises his competitiveness to maximum-testosterone level.” Video
Cardinals fold after feud
The teams hardly needed motivation. The day before, they split a gritty doubleheader. The Cubs won the opener in 15 innings. The Cardinals won the second game, 2-0, behind Matt Morris. Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood twice knocked down Morris with pitches and dusted him with a third, prompting La Russa to say Wood “likes to scare people. I’ve heard he likes to hit people.”
Baker and Wood objected to La Russa’s remarks.
After the La Russa-Baker macho match that followed Haren and Clement being hit by pitches, the intensity was raised to a fever pitch.
The Cardinals, who entered the Sept, 3 game in first place in the National League Central, a half-game ahead of the Astros and 1.5 games ahead of the Cubs, led, 6-0, in the sixth, but the Cubs scored three in the sixth, three in the seventh and two in the eighth and won, 8-7. Boxscore
Wrote Miklasz: “La Russa was nearly inconsolable.”
Said La Russa: “As far as bad losses go, it’s tied for first with any that I can remember. There’s been some savage losses, but this is right there with the worst of them.”
A defiant Baker told the Post-Dispatch: “Nobody intimidates me but my dad and Bob Gibson and a bully I had in elementary school. And I grew bigger than him, so he couldn’t bully me.”
Mariotti suggested the Cubs change their logo because “a cuddly little cub doesn’t fit the image any more when Dusty Baker is threatening to kick Tony La Russa’s butt.”
Beware the Gemini
The next day, La Russa and Baker met on the field before the game and had what was described by Strauss as “a decidedly serious conversation” for about five minutes.
Said La Russa to the Post-Dispatch: “I explained to him that the Cardinals and my players come first with me and I recognized that the Cubs and his players come first with him. If we both have that understanding, I think it’s easy for us to maintain a respect and friendship with each other.”
Baker, in comments to both the Sun-Times and Post-Dispatch, revealed there is a bad Dusty that tries to overtake the good one.
“I’m not proud of myself when I display that kind of action because I don’t really like that person when he comes out,” Baker said. “And he rarely comes out unless he’s provoked to come out.
“I’m a Gemini and I’ve definitely got an evil twin. I don’t like that twin. That’s the mean side. He’s got to run his course, then go back in there for a while. Everybody has a side they don’t like. I can get even hotter.”
Previously: Dusty Baker ended playing career with Tony La Russa at helm
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