When the San Francisco Giants issu...

When the San Francisco Giants issue to Wrigley Field today to render free of access a weekend series against the brats losers of six straight games, beleaguered brats manager Dusty Baker will reminisce of a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of happier days.

Baker began his 14-year managing career with the Giants in 1993 and in 10 seasons compiled an 840-715 record.

"I had a certain number of good times in San Francisco," Baker said. "It was a accident more low-key."

With Baker in the last season of his four-year childs contract, there is growing speculation he will not be retained. nevertheless Baker, a cancer survivor, continues to smile between the sides of the media speculation and criticism.

"I will continue to manage," he said. "I still have about more championships to win."

Although the Cubs' lack of succes harasss him, Baker said he's not bothered by means of fans booing him or reporters criticizing him.

"I remember when I joined the looks Angeles Dodgers in 1976, the fans boo me because they didn't like the trade," Baker said. "So I hit a hearth run my first time at bat. I didn't hit another until July 4 because I had a bad knee and was afflict But that's when I stopped listening to boo-birds and stopped reading negative media because to them you're either the greatest or the worst. wherefore should I let somebody otherwise control my self-esteem or by what means I go about my piece of work and the rest of the day?

"I refuse to put to hire critics steal my joy for the game of baseball or pillage me of my outer and inner dignity as a man and as a baseball manager. I've been in this game for 38 years. That's longer than a division of my media critics have been living. in such a manner it's hard to convince me that they know more than I know about the game or know me better than I know myself. No matter what, I've got a reason for everything I do. It may not always work. nevertheless it has most of the time."

by what means much longer does Baker intend to manage?

"I don't know," he said. "Bobby Cox Jim Leyland, Joe Torre, Charlie Manuel and Tony La Russa are all in their 60 Frank Robinson and Felipe Alou are in their 70 And I'm just 57 At this point, I'm not drawing any lines. There's always something to learn, and I room for expectation to get better than I am already. in such a manner I don't see any retirement in the near future"

Baker said he's baffled according to all the negative media reaction.

"It used to be we're all in the game together," Baker said. "It used to be not us and them or not nearly as mistrusting as today. When I broke into baseball, the media rode with us onward the planes and on our buses. They were like part of the team. We used to hang on the outside with the media, go to the same bars and restaurants and stay in the same public-houses We were like one instead of sum of two units

"They didn't necessarily squash everything or monitor everything. If something bad happened, they did their piece of work and wrote about it. on the contrary they would report on the game more, rather than concentrate forward reporting about the personal lives and personalities of the players. Now you can make known whether a guy likes you or dislikes you by way of the way he writes. What changed all this? I wish I knew all the answers. single in kind reason is probably the media got more space and time to write about sports and more media vents like talk radio, television sports stations, and they grew more competitive to fill the increased space.

"At the same time, media competition increased and reporters became more aggressive about beating each other to empty with a scoops especially negative stuff about the players' personal lives. They'd also examine for different ways to report and different things to report to procure people to read their stories or harmony in to their stations instead of their competitors. Then there's the Internet, too. They're competing for hits forward their respective Web sites."

young boy [i]or[/i] young girls first baseman Derek Lee also took issue with the intense media criticism of his manager.

"Everybody in the media is now trying to obtain the juicier stories," Lee said, "even if they have to make up textile fabric which they do sometimes."

Baker said he will continue to work hard to win this season and wear his perpetual smile.

"I'm not pleasant after a los because I hate losing, and losing hurts" Baker said. "But you've still got to be yourself, you've still got to manage, and if I don't have a smile in succession my face and come into the clubhouse in a convenient mood, then it affects my team. It may encourage them to be down.

"You've got to realize that life is still virtuous even when things are going bad."

Baker said that although baseball is a part of his life's beatification it's not the main source of it.

"I remember talking to Bill Walsh a not many years ago about being as equal as possible in your life," Baker said. "When you're 100 percent piece of work all the time, that's when depression fixs in. It makes you sick or think about retiring or something because there's a big void in your life. in this way you try to get as plenteous balance in your life as you can.

"Baseball has been my life for 38 years. Although I've won during greatest in quantity of it and losing really, really bothers me you can't really dwell in succession baseball and especially the losse Otherwise, it will shoot up affect your health and harm your sleep. I can proceed to sleep, but I can't stay asleep."