What was Dusty thinking? Was Darren someone else’s responsibility?

13 comments

1. If JT only ran that fast against the Marlins in 2003…

2. Dusty is behind most of the big heartbreak moments this team has experienced since 1993.

3. Darren was a bat boy, he was doing his job to go get the bat the hitter used.  Yes, he didn’t understand the game situation but even older kids find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

   I’m sure Dusty would have flown in on your helicopter but you didn’t have it yet.

4. Was the batboy the responsibility of someone other than the Manager? Yes. The problem was Darren was too young to really do the job and obviously they didn’t take that into account. So yeah parenting fail, but it happened earlier.

5. Darren was a bat boy for the Giants and was eager to get Kenny Lofton’s bat, as he was his favorite player, and purportedly one of the other boys said he was gonna get it first, so Darren was trying to get the jump on it.

6. [Darren seems to have done decently well for himself](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bakerda02.shtml), at least.

7. I could be wrong, but I think at the time, there were no age restrictions for batboys. After this incident specifically, I think the minimum age became 14?

8. Dusty had a pretty open policy on kids in the dugout / clubhouse. Lots of players kids were in the dugout all the time

9. This moment was seared into my memory as an 8 year old.

10. Do you have any idea what sitters cost in SF?

11. At the time, kids were encouraged to be in the clubhouse. Dusty wanted a warmer atmosphere where the players could spend time with their kids while still playing the game. He saw how disconnected his past teammates were from their own kids and wanted a better dynamic for his players. Never mind that BBonds dominated the locker room and could suck the air out of the place if he was in a bad mood.

12. Darren was the bat boy, he was running out to get the bat not knowing there was a play at the plate. Probably to young for safety having that responsibility

13. Darren had been a regular feature all season long, iirc. I remember my dad griping about the rule change in response that banned younger kids from the dugout. He said that teenagers wouldn’t be engaged with the game enough.