Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life

by Dusty Baker

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.

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 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.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Memoir, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography

410 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 9, 2026

About the author

Johnnie B. Baker Jr., known since youth as Dusty, was born in Riverside, California, and went to high school at Del Campo High near Sacramento. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the June 1967 amateur draft and went on to a nineteen-year Major League Baseball career, finishing with career marks of 242 home runs, 1,013 RBIs and a .278 batting average. During his ten seasons managing the San Francisco Giants starting in 1993, he was a three-time Manager of the Year and took the team to the 2002 World Series. He also managed the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. He lives near Sacramento with his wife, Melissa, and son, Darren, and has his own energy company, Baker Energy Team. This is his first book.

Reviews

[Traci Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir from baseball legend, Dusty Baker. I loved this book. It is exactly what you want from a sports memoir. Details about the game, the inside scoop on certain icon moments, and because Baker played and managed for so long, antidotes about so many important players in the game. Some of the book gets redundant and maybe a little too detailed with depth. But mostly you get exactly what you think you’ll get about a life in baseball. If you love baseball and want to hear about it from a man who was there, this book is perfect for that

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 2 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: THE PUBLISHER… SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED…

THE AUTHOR SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED…

THE EDITORS (IF THERE WERE ANY!)… SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED…

A DESECRATION OF DECENT LITERATURE!
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When a major publisher… and a well-known public figure… who is definitely not an author.. put together his stories… to great fanfare… you would think they would have pride enough in their names and reputations… to not have it TOTALLY INFESTED WITH INCORRECT STATISTICS… INCORRECT HISTORY… AND MORE TYPOS THAN A KINDERGARTEN STUDENT WHO NEVER SAW A KEYBOARD BEFORE!

If that wasn’t enough to have delayed the release of this unprofessional attempt at literature… perhaps someone on the “vaunted” publishing team would have had the cajones t0 tell the author… to stop the constant self-aggrandizing… egotistical… pompous… name dropping… that Dusty Baker not only spouts from beginning to end… but he incomprehensibly…increases… if humanly possible… to such an overbearing… screed…in the second half of the book… I literally wanted to stop reading without finishing it!

In my entire life… until this book… I had rated Howard Cosell and Al Michaels as the two biggest insufferable… break their arms patting themselves on the back… and basking in their own greatness… and hearing over and over this famous person… and that famous person… they had dinner with… or had played golf with… assuredly… no one could rank with them… in the I’m so famous gratuitous self-loving… trumpeting to the world…

BUT… AFTER THIS BOOK… DUSTY BAKER… IS NIPPING AT THEIR HEALS…IN THIS LOATHSOME CATEGORY!

Baseball’s main romantic tug on the American heart… are the statistics and history. You figure that a memoir by a well-known player and manager… would be proof read by someone that at least knows something about sports… and also… has at least a “smidgen” of… grammatical sensibility…

Well… you figured wrong!

Here is a small sampling…

Dusty who played for the Dodgers states that Hall of Fame Manager Walt Alston… managed the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for “thirty-three seasons”… that is WRONG… HE MANAGED THE DODGERS FOR TWENTY-THREE SEASONS…. 1954-1976!

Perhaps the greatest game in the history of over ONE-HUNDRED TWENTY YEARS OF WORLD SERIES GAMES… was Yankee Pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World series… but Baker states that Larsen’s perfect game WAS FOR THE DODGERS! That is worse than being incorrect… it’s literal blasphemy!

Then there’s “THE PICTURE”!...

More than simply being incorrect… it’s almost disparaging! There is a picture of one of the absolute greatest… of the great… basketball players in the history of basketball (and one of my personal childhood idols!) **THE-BIG-O”… OSCAR ROBERTSON… IS IN A PICTURE WITH BAKER… AND THE CAPTION SAYS *OSCAR ROBINSON*! This is simply unforgivable!

There are many misspelling of names… such as former big league player Ellis Burks… being called Ellis “Birks”. I could list many more examples… as the typos were into the DOUBLE-DIGITS!

As I am a voracious reader… who hopes to find unique… artistic… style within the written word… regardless of the subject matter… and at times I’m rewarded with words that are almost poetic and flow like a symphonic orchestra… but nothing even close to that blessing in this book. In fact… even the non-error filled portions… came across as LAZY WRITING. As an example on one page when discussing player Darren Lewis… whose nickname was “DLew”… in one paragraph alone… “DLEW” was used five times!

While Dusty drops names… like rain drops in a hurricane… he also throws in ludicrous reasons… as to why each new managerial job…(Giants, Nationals… Reds… Cubs… Asterisks) were absolutely perfect and begging for his expertise… and the fit was made in heaven. Particularly… humorous/ridiculous was regarding the owner of the Cincinnati Reds… Bob Castellini…

“MR CASTELLINI, AS I ALWAYS CALLED HIM, WAS IN THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE BUSINESS, WHICH I LIKED”

NOTE: How lucky that Dusty “liked” the fruit AND vegetable business… If Castellini was only in the vegetable business it probably would have been a no go!

In between the constant… never ending… name dropping…Dusty never fails to discuss all his virtuous character blessings… including… religion…honesty…straight forwardness… and his constant racial issues… but… despite… his self-produced resume’… for sainthood… he refuses to say one word… regarding steroids… about the biggest steroid cheat in baseball history… Barry Bonds who played for him for years!

Now… to tie this whole review together… since I opened it with all the mistakes of every shape and size… and being incredulous that something this amateurish could be released… maybe I can help educate potential readers as to how it was possible… by sharing the author’s own synopsis that he put at the very end of the book in the Acknowledgments:

(FROM DUSTY)

**I’VE THOUGHT ABOUT EVERY SENTENCE IN THIS BOOK, MULLED IT OVER.**
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**AND THANKS TO MY ASSISTANT XXXXX (I am leaving this out to shield her) FOR ALL THE EXTRA WORK TO GET THE PICTURES READY FOR THE BOOK AND FOR HER SHARP EDITORIAL EYE IN PROOFREADING FOR NEEDED CORRECTIONS.***

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**MY WIFE MELISSA READ THE BOOK AND MADE SOME CORRECTIONS…

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Wooo Boy!!! What a self-deprecating mea culpa to end this book!

[Mark Lieberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about Dusty Baker, except that he was the Manager of the San Francisco Giants. He was a teammate of Hank Aaron on the Atlanta Braves and there was a lot of verbiage on there relationship, and a lot of extra insight when Hank hit home run number 715. How awesome is that?

Baker also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers under the Managerial helm of Tommy Lasorda, the San Francisco Giants under Frank Robinson, and the Oakland Athletics (José Canseco was a rookie in 1985 and Mark McGwire was a rookie in 1986).

As a Manager, Baker was in charge of the San Francisco Giants (with Barry Bonds chasing the home run record), the Chicago Cubs (with Sammy Sosa, another home run king), the Cincinnati Reds (with Ken Griffey JR, yet another home run king), the Washington Nationals, and the Houston Astros (where he finally won a World Series, after a few times of being there both as a player and a Manager). How awesome is his lineage to baseball history?

Baker also talked about his passion for music and fishing, and that he always takes advantage of where is for those activities. In 1967, he attended all three days of the Monterrey Pop Festival.

There was also a lot of talk about his family, and how important his parent's role in his life was. Quite a few times, when Baker needed advice, he called his dad! For his own kids, he was just a proud parent when his son made his big league debut as a professional baseball player.

He got to meet a lot of famous people (especially, when was playing for the Dodgers) from music, athletes, and politicians (he met a young Barack Obama while he was Managing the Cubs). When he was a player and a Manager, the game was one thing, but a lot of times, after the games, he hung with his friends and those friends could be from the opposing teams.

His medical diagnosis of having prostate cancer and some heart issues were discussed.

There were a lot of details of his playing and managerial days, and for me, it was a bit too much. It also felt like some of the stories were out of order, and I had a hard time following along. Overall, I enjoyed reading about his journey, and was actually really impressed with his experience and all the great mentors he had in the game.

He was in the on deck circle when Hank Aaron hit number 715.

He was a player for the Dodgers when Reggie Jackson hit 3 home runs in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

He was the Giants Manager when the 1989 earthquake happened during the World Series.

He was the Cub Manager when a fan named Steve Bartman may have interfered with the ball in the 2003 National League Championship Season.

After reading it, I think he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

As a player, he played 18 seasons with an average of .278, 242 home runs, and 1013 RBIs, and one World Series title in 1981 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As a Manager, 2183 wins and 1862 losses, and one World Series title.

It's also funny, because his real love was basketball and football!

[David Hallstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid biography of a man who has led a full life in baseball, from starting in the late 1960s to retiring as a manager after the 2023 season.

Baker won a World Series as a player and another as a manager and he lost two World Series as a player and a manager. He was teammates with Hank Aaron (famously on deck when Aaron broker Babe Ruth's record). His dad coached Bobby Bonds in Little League and Dusty managed Barry Bonds in San Francisco.

I knew a lot of facts about Dusty's career as a player and as a manager. The book helped to fill in details, many of which are fascinating, and shows a rich life outside of baseball, such as visiting the Crossroads in Mississippi with Elvin Bishop.

However, I have to comment on the fact this book is a mess. The copyright page credits one copy editor and two proofreaders. I would really like to know what those three did. Names of players and other baseball people are misspelled with regularity - Dave Dombrowski is Dave Dombroski and Dave Dombrowsky in the same paragraph; Jayson Werth is Jayson Werth and Jason Werth; Jim DeShaies is Jim DeShaes and on and on.

The "facts" are a mess. The first reference to Wrigley Field claims the park was built in 1918 whereas the second reference gets the dates, 1914, correct. Dusty references 1977 as the release date of The Clash's version of "I Fought the Law", instead of 1979. Greg Luzinski is credited as player on the 1983 Phillies, despite his being on the White Sox from 1981-84. Dusty says he was going to catch a private jet from Meigs Field in 2012, but Meigs closed in 2003.

The list is not exhaustive, just a sample. I am left wondering how many facts in the book are wrong, if I could cite more than those four off the top of my head.

[Russ Bertetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Dusty's look at baseball and life. Being a life-long Giants fan, I have heard Dusty talk "a lot" over the years so I'm familiar with how Dusty talks, his choice of words, his intonations so as I read this I felt he was talking to me and his other readers. That was one of things that really was great about this book.
But that was just the start of a long list of reasons why this book resonated with me: the baseball (especially the section on the Giants), his frankness about being a black man in white America, especially when he and and his brother were the only two black men in his high school, all the people, in and out of baseball, who helped him become the man he is today.
This was so much more than your typical sports autobiography that focuses on what happened on the field but includes stories about smoking weed with Jimi Hendrix, inventing the "high five" with Glenn Burke, his financial difficulties, getting to know pre-presidential Barack Obama, and much, much more . Maybe a future edition will include his induction to the baseball Hall of Fame which should take place next July.

[Geoffrey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dusty is a winner

As a life loving Dodger fan and watching Dusty though out his career, I always admired him for his successes. In his book, he filled in the gaps of his upbringing and his trial and tribulations of baseball and life. As a white guy (slightly younger than Dusty), I appreciated learning of what he endured as a black man and how he used his religious upbringing as a pillar in living his life. I also enjoyed all of his stories and all of the relationships and friendships he made during the course of his life. He had the opportunity to meet an array of really cool people, especially Hank Aaron.

I also had the opportunity to meet Dusty in January 2017 at a hot stove dinner for our local university by way of winning a bid on his jersey, which he personally autographed for me. We even talked about his love for Kauai, which we also have as we go there a couple of times a year. And I read his book as we are now visiting Kauai! Dusty was and always will be a winner.

[Wade Bearden]

Man, Dusty Baker really is a 1 of 1. Who else can say they played with Hank Aaron and Mark McGwire, and managed Barry Bonds, Bryce Harper, and Jose Altuve?

There are so many good stories here, but obviously I loved the section about the Astros best. What an amazing four year run. We were the bad boys of baseball, with a roster full of good guys. I’m so thankful I relished nearly every game of that period. Dusty will always hold a special place in my heart. So happy he won his World Series (as a manger) with us.

One caveat: I listened to the audiobook and the Astros chapter contained some notable errors. The most egregious being that he says the Astros “shutout” the Phillies in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series. The Astros threw a no-hitter! In the World Series! I guess not technically an error, but strange nonetheless. I assume we can attribute some of the mistakes to the sheer number of games and players he describes, or maybe to the person(s) helping him write the book?

[Tom Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good deal of heartfelt fun, but it helps to have been a longtime baseball fan. I grew up in Southern California in the 60s and 70s, and watched Dusty play, along with so many great Dodger teams. I moved to Northern California in the late 70s, and took up with the Giants (something that could get you tarred and feathered by a Dodgers fan, and vice versa), and Dusty managed them with style and aplomb.

Plenty of good stuff of his early days in SoCa, his family, and later his pro playing and managing—he's been around. I enjoyed a fair amount of the old baseball names Dusty sprinkled through the book, but after a while, it was hard to keep up with his contacts and associations.

Throughout though, it's clear he's a good guy with a big heart. I saw him at a local book signing, and that heart shone through. And he makes decent wine too.

[Steve Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Dusty more prior to reading this book. If you like books written by egotistical racists then this is the book for you. He claims to be the best in everything he has been involved with from religion to basketball, swimming, education, basketball, football, fishing, hunting, baseball and on and on. Apparently he has not forgotten a thing in his life. Unfortunately much of what is written is unverifiable. I kept reading to see what the next whopper would be. Lots of name dropping and anyone under 50 would not recognize the majority of the people Dusty describes.

[John Schorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A baseball autobiography of the old school. Dusty Baker provides a lengthy look at his life, which spans an amazing time in the history of the sport. He isn't shy about talking about his own faults, which is admirable. If it doesn't quite hit full marks, it may be that he tends to bog down in the details, repeat some points, and avoid other, potentially itchy issues completely, particularly when it comes to Barry Bonds.

[Rocky Oakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really a frequent or critical reader of biographies, so not really qualified to critique this book. I have always liked Dusty Baker's public persona and enjoyed learning more about his life. The baseball game details will be appreciated by many, it might be considered a little name-droppy, and no real inside dirt. I really enjoyed learning his experience of being a Black player and then manager during the years and in the locations that his career spanned.

[Brad Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book as I grew up loving the Dodgers and Dusty was one of my favorites. Connections of yesteryear and today made me want to read and like this book

Unfortunately the book is a bit of a mess as the stories he tells are often unconnected to each other and bounce from one topic to another and then back again and then off to another. Really hard to follow at times.

His epilogue was poignant and had me wanting to add another star for effort but a “long” memoir that doesn’t have much cohesion to it made it a bit of a slog to get through.

Wanting a homer from Dusty but got something short of that.

[Herzog · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dusty has lived a remarkable life and encountered a myriad of interesting and famous people. He names many of them throughout this book, but, by his own admission, offers few insightful anecdotes that would take this book to another level. I am a baseball fan and watched many of the games that he describes, but recounting the series and games didn't really make for interesting reading. I bet that Dusty would be a blast to hangout with, but reading about it left a lot to be desired.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only a history of baseball, but a history of a man’s life. Both a player and a manager, Dusty Baker’s insights into to baseball and life are very interesting and definitely heartfelt. If you are a baseball fan, a follower of history and music, you will be entertained and enlightened by this story. While to some it may seem Dusty is a name dropper, the truth is he is a connected and sincere person. Worth your time!

[Jeff Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crossroads written by Baseball player/manager Dusty Baker compares many lessons he learned from family older mentors and friends he used in both life and baseball.

He is a few years older than me but many of his shared stories were relatable. I followed his baseball career enough to enjo the baseball portions of the book.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot (especially about his playing days), and he had a lot of fun stories. Maybe just a smidge on the long side, and he does repeat himself a few times. But a super engaging memoir overall.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dusty, not that Dos Equis guy, is the most interesting person in the world, and that can new through in this book. He seems to know everybody, in baseball, sports, music and other fields, and he tells his story in a very readable book. It was hard to put down.

[Richard Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book by Dusty Baker, one of my favorite managers in baseball. I learned many things about Dusty and about his outlook on life. If you like reading about sports, you will love this book.

[Adam Parrilli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book by a wonderful man. Dusty Baker learned from the greats like Hank Aaron and Bill Walsh to name just two. Dusty is a dude for all seasons. Highly recommended reading. This book is much more than just a baseball story. Long live wristbands and toothpicks.

[Michael Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Again Dusty

You were a great manager for the Giants and wrote a great book. As a proud Santa Clara University graduate, I would have loved to see you play basketball and/or baseball at SCU. Thank you for a great book!

[Jerry Conte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun and knowledgeable read for a baseball fan!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating life, but how can you discuss managing Barry Bonds in the apex of his career and completely ignore the elephant in the room? Say something—one way or another.

[Rose Kap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this on audiobook and this is a must read (or listen!) for any baseball fan. Really enjoyed hearing about Dusty’s career from his POV.

[Ernest Fleming · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOTS of stories about baseball and life. A must read!

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up because I love baseball and this kept my interest.

[chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book

I loved this book and would recommend it to any who saw Dusty Baker as a player or manager. He is a great manager but he’s an even better human being.

[Al Banfield]

I have always liked Dusty Baker and for him to express his delights and not so delightful life history in baseball, in life, and philosophies. Very good read

[William Dury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baker comes across as wonderfully endowed with common sense. He was a highly (highly!) skilled player and had a successful managing career. The Hank Aaron stories alone make this book well worth reading. That and making the acquaintance of Mr Baker. Very impressive man.