The last manager to get the Chicago Cubs this far in the MLB playoffs was Dusty Baker, who unfortunately was a part of the team's collapse in the 2003 NLCS against the Florida Marlins. Nonetheless, Baker owns a 1,671-1,504 record in 20 years as a manager.
He is a candidate for a number of jobs throughout the MLB this offseason due to his wealth of experience as a player and coach. However, believe it or not, Baker was an avid music fan when he was growing up and actually aspired to be a writer, despite being selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 1967 draft.
One of his biggest inspirations was Jimi Hendrix, who Baker encountered back in the 1960s - and got high with.
"The summer after the Monterey Pop Festival, Baker was briefly called up to the Braves, the first of his nineteen seasons as a professional ballplayer. After his first stint in the bigs, Baker writes, he ran into Jimi Hendrix on the streets of San Francisco one night and, having abandoned the 'no grass' rule, smoked a joint with him. (He's mum about the words they exchanged, if he remembers them.) All of this by nineteen," writes Charles Bethea of The New Yorker.
Baker attended the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 - the year he was drafted. He implemented a "no grass" rule before going away for the weekend to "preserve his athletic future." He saw Jimi Hendrix light his guitar on fire and go wild on stage at the festival, which is a memory that is forever ingrained in his mind.
Perhaps that was the moment he recalled when he saw Hendrix in San Francisco, forcing him to disregard his pledge to not smoke marijuana. Being that MLB players got away with a lot more than smoking weed from the 1960s until recent years, Baker probably wouldn't have hesitated to light one up with Hendrix at the music festival if he knew he probably would have only gotten a slap on the wrist - if any penalty at all.
Baker's dreams of becoming a writer have come to fruition. His book, "Kiss the Sky," is his account of attending the Monterey Pop Festival and will be published by Wellstone Books next month.
