When a bat boy changes the rules
Giants runner J.T. Snow pulls bat boy Darren Baker from the plate during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series (Associated Press photo)
Less than three months after Darren Baker – the 3-year-old bat boy and son of San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker – finds himself narrowly missing being plowed over at home plate during the World Series, Major League Baseball 21 years ago today sets a minimum age of 14 for bat boys.
Darren Baker gains regional attention before the World Series by running out to pick up bats during some of his father’s games.
Young Darren, though, nearly becomes a national headline for all the wrong reasons during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2002 World Series against the Anaheim Angels.
That is when young Darren innocently, albeit mistakenly, runs from the dugout to home plate to retrieve a bat only to find himself running into a middle of a live play as San Francisco’s J.T. Snow scores the first run of a two-run triple hit by Kenny Lofton.
The problem arrives when Darren Baker not only fails to see Snow rapidly approaching the plate to give the Giants a 9-4 lead, but also does not see the hard-charging David Bell right behind Snow with San Francisco’s 10th run.
Darren Baker in 2002
Snow, who clearly inherits a great pair of hands from his father – former NFL Pro Bowl receiver Jack Snow – quickly grabs Baker by his extra small team jacket as he crosses the plate, lifts him into his arms and saves him from a potential collision with Bell and Angels catcher Bengie Molina.
Years later, Darren Baker says if not for Lofton being his favorite player, the near collision never would happen as fellow bat boy Nikolai Bonds – the 13-year-old son of Giants left fielder Barry Bonds – prepares to pick up the bat.
After the play is over, of course. Like a bat boy should.
“Nikolai said he was going to get Kenny Lofton’s bat before me,” Darren Baker tells MLB.com in 2022, “and (Lofton) was my favorite player, so right when the bat dropped I ran out there. Without the video, it’s like it never happened.”
Darren Baker’s baseball card in 2022
Fast forward two decades or so from then and Darren Baker today is an aspiring second baseman in the Washington Nationals’ system, a 10th-round pick out of the University of California in the 2021 amateur draft.
Now 24, Baker is coming off a 2023 season in which he hits .273 in 99 games for Class AAA Rochester.
Even today, the 2002 World Series never is far from Darren Baker’s thoughts.
“It’s a funny moment. I talk about it at least once a day. It’s something that will stay forever.”
Especially with his father.
Dusty Baker not only needs to address with the national media his son’s near-collision during Game 5 of the 2002 World Series he also needs to deal with a more imposing presence.
Namely, Grandma.
“I saw the play unfold,” Dusty Baker says, “and I was thinking about what my mom told me: ‘He shouldn’t be out there, he’s going to get hurt.’ I said, ‘Mom, I know what I’m doing.’
“First call I get in the clubhouse (after the game) was my mom to tell me, ‘I know you listen to me sometimes. Just listen to me this time.’ She told me to thank J.T., and I thanked him for saving him and the whole situation.”
The Bakers exchange lineup cards — and a hug — before a 2022 spring training game between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals