Reflecting on 1,700 wins for Dusty Baker as a manager, and counting

Manager Dusty Baker now has 1,700 wins to go with his No. 17 ranking all-time.

Baker reached 1,700 wins as a Major League manager as the Nationals dropped the Cardinals 2-1 on Thursday night at Nationals Park.

Baker trails Giants manager Bruce Bochy by 32 wins for No. 16 marker on the all-time list.

After the win Thursday, Baker reflected on getting to 1,700.

"It just means I've been around a long time, number one," Baker said. "And number two, it's sort of ironic that my first victory in 1993 was against the same Cardinals. So that's pretty ironic. And I think about a couple years that I couldn't get a job. So in my mind, I'm really around 1,850."

Baker played 19 seasons in the Major Leagues. But managing was not something he really thought of as his playing career winded down.

"No, I didn't want to manage in the first place," Baker said. "(Baseball executive and former player) Al Rosen was the one who wanted me to manage. I didn't even know him. And he said he saw something when he was on the other side of the field when he was with the Astros and the Yankees, that he thought I'd be a good field manager.

"God bless his soul, he's really had an impact on my life. And the one thing that I wish he'd have been wrong about, he told me that managers are made to be fired, and I said not me."

Rosen was in the front office with the Yankees, Astros and Giants after a playing career that spanned 10 seasons. Rosen passed away at the age of 91 in 2015.

This is Baker's 21st season as a manager. His winning percentage is .527. With all those wins with the Giants, the Cubs, the Reds and now the Nationals, was there anything he didn't like about managing?

"I really liked playing better, because I'm judged on my own performance, rather than managing you're judged on others' performance," Baker said. "What I like about managing, I guess is the same thing in my family structure. I was the oldest of five, and I give orders better than I take them.

"I guess I was being tutored from the time I got into this game by Hank Aaron and Tommy Lasorda and Preston Gomez and Jim Gilliam and some of the great people I've been around. I'm just happy that my daughter was here to see, and my best friend you read about in my book that came to see me in Florida years ago was here to see me. I just want to thank my teams that I've been on for making it all possible. Because I couldn't have done any of this without them."

His new team certainly likes what they see so far from Baker as a manager. Reliever Felipe Rivero has noticed what Baker has brought to the Nationals in 2016.

"I think he's brought a lot of camaraderie to the clubhouse," Rivero said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. "He's an old school manager. He's given a lot of the player's confidence, so I think that shows in the clubhouse."

Even shortstop Danny Espinosa, who hit the go-ahead solo homer for the win on Thursday, appreciates Baker staying with him despite rough patches on offense.

"Yeah it's awesome, having Dusty is kind of like having your Dad or someone coach your team, it's pretty cool," Espinosa said. "He's just behind all of his guys. So to have him behind me, supporting me to go out there everyday knowing that he wants me out there is a great feeling."