Being selected as National League Manager of the Year meant a lot more to Dusty Baker this time.
Baker, whose San Francisco Giants became only the fourth team this century to go from last place one year to first place the next, won the award for the second time in his five seasons as a manager.The first time came in 1993, when Baker was a rookie manager. The Giants went 103-59, but San Francisco lost the division on the final day of the regular season to Atlanta.
Baker said Thursday's honor was special because this year's NL West title came after last-place finishes the previous two years.
"After we struggled the last couple of years, this one means a lot more. I'm a lot more appreciative of it now," Baker said. "And this is more gratifying because we finally won something other than second place."
Baker said the award meant even more because it came in the season when baseball honored the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.
On the same day he won the NL Manager of the Year award, Baker was inducted into the Black Sports Hall of Fame in Oakland.
Including Baker's awards in 1993 and 1997, four of the last five NL managers of the year have been minorities. Montreal's Felipe Alou won in 1994 and Colorado's Don Baylor was the winner in 1995.
"It's special to me," Baker said. "I even told my team that one time. I just felt we were going to win. If anybody was going to win in the year of Jackie Robinson, I felt it might as well be me."
Baker became the third manager to win the NL award twice, joining Tommy Lasorda and Jim Leyland, who has won three. In the AL, Tony La Russa has won the manager award three times and Sparky Anderson has won twice.
Baker was the only manager selected on all 28 ballots, getting 17 first-place votes, seven seconds and four thirds for 110 points.
Gene Lamont, who kept the Pittsburgh Pirates in contention all year in his first season as the team's manager, was second with 10 first-place votes and 92 points.
Larry Dierker, the Houston Astros' rookie manager, was third with one first-place vote and 34 points, followed by Bobby Valentine of the New York Mets (7 points), Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves Terry Francona of the Philadelphia Phillies and Leyland who took over the Marlins this year and led them to a World Series title.
Under the rules of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, ballots had to be postmarked by the day before the start of the postseason. The Giants were swept by Florida in the first round of the playoffs.
Davey Johnson won the AL manager of the year award Wednesday, hours after he resigned from the Baltimore Orioles.
The remaining BBWAA awards - the Cy Youngs and MVPs - will be announced next week.
The Giants went 68-94 in 1996, then traded away All-Star third baseman Matt Williams. Expected to finish last again, San Francisco was one of the biggest surprises in baseball with its 90-72 record.
San Francisco made several major trades during the season, completely revamping its roster and forcing Baker to work with players he hardly knew.
"With so many new players, the challenges were to find out when and where to use the guys," he said. "Once you're around the guys, you can find out who likes to be in a pressure situation, who can drive in runs even when his average isn't that high."
The Giants finished two games ahead of second-place Los Angeles. After leading the division for most of the year, the Giants fell behind the Dodgers with a few weeks left in the season.
But the Giants swept a two-game series from Los Angeles in San Francisco in mid-September, and went on to win their fifth title since moving west in 1958. The Giants staged a 22-game turnaround, largest in the NL, to win the division for the first time since 1989.
"The toughest thing is when you have a lead and you lose it and you come back, especially when you're bombarded with negatives and people telling you you're overachieving and asking when the team is going to fall," Baker said. "I thought that we had a pretty good product."