Dusty Baker talks memoir, life story with former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
The audience at The Guild Theater was treated to a revealing sight Monday night as Dusty Baker discussed his recently published memoir “Crossroads” with former Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
The All-Star player and former MLB manager brought his legendary authenticity and storytelling, and Johnson, who has kept a low profile since leaving office nearly a decade ago, was a game master of ceremonies.
In the packed crowd were Baker’s wife Melissa Baker, his sister Taria Baker-Michalet, his half-brother Millard Baker and other people he as known for decades. Baker was born in Riverside but moved to Carmichael as a teenager and now lives in Granite Bay.
After the event, Baker seemed pleased as he stood by the bar at Fixins, Johnson’s soul food restaurant around the corner.
“I mean, it’s a lot easier when you know everybody in the public that’s out there almost,” said Baker, who is the eighth-winningest manager in baseball history and has a good chance of being elected to the Hall of Fame this fall.
“I knew half the folks and half the other folks knew somebody that I knew or knew my mom or my dad or something. And so you don’t have to try to be something that you’re not.”
A birthday cake for Baker
Baker took the stage to a standing ovation around 6 p.m. For about 20 minutes before, Johnson worked the crowd, asking how many had known Baker before 1976. One man who raised his hand recounted a basketball game Baker had played in for Del Campo High School against Hiram Johnson.
Once the event got underway, Johnson praised Baker’s memoir, calling it an “unbelievable read.” Johnson told Baker that he’d followed him since childhood and that his mother had taken him to see a San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves game featuring Baker.
“We got there super-early for batting practice and I’m watching No. 12 out there. I was watching how you walked. I’ll watch how you pick up a ball,” said Johnson, who starred for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns prior to running for political office but emphasized Monday that baseball had been his first love.
There were serious moments and there was levity, sometimes almost simultaneously.
In response to a fan’s question about his Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Glenn Burke, Baker drew applause by saying that even after he learned Burke was gay “he was still my brother.” Burke, who was out to teammates but not the public during his career, died of AIDS-related complications in 1995.
Baker denied an oft-told story that he and Burke had invented the high-five, telling the crowd that he’d merely thrown his hand up when Burke had done the same. Baker noted that he and Steve Garvey were advertised doing a high-five the next year “looking square.” This spurred Baker and Johnson to perform an exaggerated and awkward high-five for the audience, drawing laughter.
Monday’s event fell on Baker’s 77th birthday. Johnson brought out a red velvet cake with lit candles and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Baker.
Johnson, whose second term as mayor concluded in 2016 under a cloud after a city staffer alleged sexual harassment, declined to be interviewed after Monday’s event. A charismatic leader and the city’s first Black mayor, Johnson is credited with key roles in shepherding the city through the Great Recession, preventing the Sacramento Kings from moving and fashioning the financial deal to build Golden 1 Center.
Baker said during the event that his mom and Johnson’s mom had been close.
“I’m really proud of Kevin,” Baker said. “I’m proud of what he means and what he’s meant to Sacramento. He’s the same Kevin I always knew. I’m proud of being from here.”
Reactions to the event
The theater was full of former athletes, local politicians or family members.
“It’s such an honor to be able to see your brother and the fans and people from this area come out and honor him and to listen to his stories,” said Millard Baker, 54, who shares a father with his half brother and lives in Citrus Heights. “I grew up watching him and trying to emulate what he does, so it means the world to me.”
Former ballplayers in attendance included Michael Benjamin Sr., who played for Sacramento State in 1971 and whose son Michael Benjamin Jr. is now on the Sacramento City Unified school board. There was also former Negro Leaguer Don Porter, 85, of the New York Black Yankees.
Also on-hand was Sacramento resident Jerry Royster, who has known Baker since childhood and played against him in the majors. Royster was playing for the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers the night Baker’s teammate on the Atlanta Braves, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974.
“He’s a great storyteller,” Royster said of Baker. “He was even better today.”
Current Sacramento City Council members Phil Pluckebaum and Rick Jennings were in the crowd. Pluckebaum said that it had been “really heartwarming” hearing Baker’s stories. Jennings noted that he’d known Baker since the late 1980s.
“No matter where he was born, no matter where he has lived, no matter how many teams he has coached, he will always be a hometown hero to all of us here in the city of Sacramento,” Jennings said.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
