Dusty Baker // Crossroads: A Memoir x Marcus Books

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. For this event, he'll be in conversation with Monte Poole.
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.

Monte Poole covered a variety of sports at the Oakland Tribune for 28 years, the last 22 as a columnist, before joining NBC Sports Bay Area as Warriors Insider in 2013.

Monte offers perspective on games and storylines that go beyond stats. He also co-hosts the provocative “Dubs Talk” podcast and is a contributor on Warriors Pregame/Postgame shows. He occasionally breaks news, such as Stephen Curry’s first MVP award in 2015 and Kevin Durant’s return for Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

Monte earned his B.A. in Journalism at San Jose State University, Class of 1985.

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