HOUSTON — The man who has experienced everything still didn’t fully know what awaited him. Blueprints or scripts didn’t exist for the Houston Astros’ unusual circumstances. Scandal threatened to fracture their clubhouse and crater a championship core, so Astros owner Jim Crane called the only man in baseball capable of calming the chaos.

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“I really didn’t know what I was walking into. I really didn’t have a clue,” Dusty Baker said.

“But I’m not afraid of the unknown. If you’ve got faith, you figure you can handle it. And I figured I could handle anything, being a former Marine. I learned from my dad, making me do things that I didn’t want to do, and my mom. I figure I could handle whatever’s coming.”

Booing ballparks soon became the least of Baker’s concerns. Hired in January 2020, this players’ manager was quickly confronted with a global pandemic, one that hindered his ability to form the relationships he’s so renowned for keeping. A lockout condensed Baker’s second spring training before his first full season.

Baker lived through four work stoppages as a player and another during his second season managing the San Francisco Giants. Few were more equipped to navigate territory new to almost everyone else. The Astros finished within one win of a World Series.

“You came in and helped us when we needed some help. You did a great job and I think you were the only guy that could do that in the business,” Crane told him on Thursday. “You did a fantastic job.”

Crane sought Baker for stability. Baker answered, in part, to chase the championship that long eluded him. Securing it last season solidified Baker as one of the sport’s legends, a surefire Hall of Famer who worked wonders in a situation where few others would succeed.

Baker shepherded a franchise out of its darkest hour and into a dynastic conversation. He led the Astros to four consecutive American League Championship Series appearances, two pennants and, in 2022, that long-awaited World Series title.

Dusty Baker chased a World Series victory for nearly 50 years before winning in 2022. (Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

“The team allowed me at 70-something years old to continue to make a living,” said Baker, hired at 71 and now retired at 74. “Most guys are collecting Social Security at 70-something years old — which I’m also doing. It gave me an opportunity to win. I had a couple businesses, but nothing satisfies me like the thrill of competition and the quest to win.”

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Of the 19 full-time managers in franchise history, only A.J. Hinch has a higher winning percentage than Baker. He became the first manager in major-league history to guide five different teams to the postseason and, by winning the American League West in 2021, the first to win a division with five different teams. Houston won at least 90 games in all three of Baker’s 162-game seasons.

“It was probably the quickest four years I’ve ever spent in my life,” Baker said. “But that’s what happens when you’re winning.”

Baker always pushed back on any belief that he retired following his dismissal in Washington. He interviewed with numerous teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies before the 2020 season. When Baker fell short, his son, Darren, mused that “maybe the Lord didn’t want you to have that job.”

Fate led Baker to Houston, where his performance paved the way for more managers like him. The New York Mets hired Buck Showalter a season after Baker won his first American League pennant. Bruce Bochy acknowledged last week that Baker’s success “might be why I got a call” last winter to take over the Texas Rangers.

Bochy’s club claimed the American League pennant on Monday night at Minute Maid Park. Afterward, Baker spoke like someone ready for retirement, but stopped short of saying it out loud. He spent most of the season in pursuit of a milestone previously achieved by one of his mentors.

Cito Gaston, the first Black manager to win a World Series, won two in a row in 1992 and 1993. Baker always preached, “If I win one, I might as well win two.”

“I was still disappointed by not fulfilling my promise of winning two in a row,” Baker said. “I’ve got to get over that first. I don’t like to make promises that I can’t keep.

“I wanted to win the pennant and then leave. The same thing happened in San Francisco. I knew I was living in San Francisco, so I wanted to win and go out the door. But sometimes your plan and life’s plans are two different things. I got to the door, but I didn’t quite get through the door.”

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Baker said he began to contemplate retirement before the season began. “A couple instances, a couple articles” written in “late summer” cemented his plan, Baker said, though he did not elaborate further.

Asked later whether he felt “mistreated” by members of the Houston media, Baker replied, “Somewhat, yeah.” Many reporters in attendance still approached Baker for selfies following Thursday’s press conference. One brought a gift. Baker indulged them all.

“I’ve been in a number of places and one thing that I try to do (and that) I’m very conscious of, is that the place I’m leaving from is in better shape and condition than when I got there,” Baker said. “I hope that we’re in better shape now than when I got here, even though we were in great shape then.”

Both publicly and privately, Baker’s decision-making and lineup construction drew considerable criticism throughout a season where Houston’s margin for error felt smaller than any of the three that preceded it. Early-season injuries to Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez limited the lineup before the All-Star break.

Season-ending arm injuries for Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia did the same for Houston’s starting rotation, which Crane did not address last winter while running the team’s baseball operations department. Baker would later acknowledge that he wanted more starting pitching, but the lack of a general manager complicated the pursuit.

The general manager Crane hired, Dana Brown, disagreed openly with Baker’s use of rookie catcher Yainer Diaz — even during interviews on the team’s flagship radio station — but left his manager full autonomy for all on-field decisions.

“His leadership skills are outstanding,” Brown said on Thursday. “I think his greatest quality is his relationship with his players. I think he knows how to put his arm around them. I think he knows how to give them a kick when they need a kick. And I just think he’s outstanding with human beings and it’s a testament to his leadership. He’s going to be missed.”

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Baker is not leaving baseball. If anything, he may just be getting started. Baker won 2,183 games, three pennants and three Manager of the Year awards, but still swears he hasn’t accomplished anything. Two years ago, he returned from burying his best friend and brought a new perspective.

“I went to Hank Aaron’s funeral and all these people were talking about how Hank had contributed and helped out their college education and how he had affected this life and that life. I came back home and told my wife, ‘I don’t feel like I’ve done anything,’” Baker said.

Dusty Baker congratulates Hank Aaron after Aaron’s 703rd home run. (Sporting News via Getty Images)

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do — it’s going to be good, whatever it is. I believe that. Try to have an influence on some youth. Whatever direction that I’m sent, I got to go.”

Other than getting back to California to greet his daughter, grandchildren and two hunting dogs, Baker didn’t have a plan in place — fitting for someone who rarely follows one. He was a basketball player who never wanted to play baseball.

Baker concluded his 19-year playing career “kind of mad at the world” and without any plans to coach. The wisdom Aaron, Ralph Garr and countless others imparted upon him would be for naught, an outcome Baker’s father could not comprehend.

“It’s not up to you to take with you and possess what they gave you, it’s up to you to pass it on to somebody else,” Baker said his father told him.

“That’s what I’ve tried to do. Pass it on in the game, only perpetuate itself and get better if we continue to pass it on, because whatever it is, knowledge or wisdom or whatever it is, it’s not ours to possess because you can’t take it with you. So you gotta pass it on.”

For his entire Houston tenure, Baker wore “Jr.” on the back of his jersey, an ode to the father who forged a path he did not initially want to take. Baker’s own son, Darren, is inching closer toward his major-league debut inside the Washington Nationals organization. Stepping away will afford Baker a chance to savor it.

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What’s next is unknown, just as it was at the beginning of this journey. Crane plucked the perfect person to pilot the Astros through their predicament. Baker rewarded him with on-field results few can argue, cementing a legacy that may only just be getting started.

“I still feel like I haven’t done what I’m supposed to do in life,” Baker said. “I know the Lord has some great things ahead for me.”

(Top photo of Baker: Bob Levey / Getty Images)