Darren Baker celebrates winning Dusty’s World Series

After Kenny Lofton travels to Angel Center player Darren Erstad to finish the 2002 World Championships, Giants manager Dusty Baker is seen holding his 3-year-old son, Darren BakerFrom the bunker to the club. Young Darren was raucous, upset that his father had lost the Fall Classic.

When Dusty saw Darren on the field, the two hugged. There was not much talk. Darren said a lot of things were said without words. He reminded his father of a conversation he had earlier in the day, when he told Darren Dusty that the Astros would defeat the Phillies on the same day. Dusty replied, “We did it.”

“It was very special,” Darren said by phone on Tuesday afternoon. “There were so many disappointments and uncertainties in his life. I don’t know. You put so much into something, you definitely want to get the final award. Seeing that was amazing.”

Darren had a blast in Show in Houston, very. This was the first time he had attended such an event. He said he had never seen so many people in his life. Darren was standing next to Alex Bergman when a fan threw a beer towards them. He grabbed it and had a big dose.

“[Bergman] He was calling for one. We drank and had a great time,” Darren said.

Darren became known to baseball fans as a young kid during the 2002 World Championships. He was one of many batmen for the Giants and became known for what he did in Game 5 when they faced the Angels.

In the seventh inning, Loften tripled to the right field. As GT Snow and David Bell scored, Darren ran and tried to grab Lofton’s racket, but the ball was still in play. As he scored in front of Bill, Snow grabbed Darren by his team’s jacket at the home plate and snatched him so he wouldn’t interfere with the play.

Darren doesn’t remember the accident 20 years later, but he does remember crying in his father’s arms after the World Championships ended.

“I remember things like patches,” Darren said. “Kenny Lofton and Barry Bonds were my favorite players. I remember when I was crying [at the end of the World Series]. She understood, even at that age, about winning and losing. I spent every day of the year with these guys. I was definitely disappointed.

“Unfortunately, I don’t remember being picked up [by Snow]. I don’t remember it. If there was no video or YouTube, it was as if it never happened to me. I wish I could remember. It would be nice to remember something like that.”