Reds Manager Dusty Baker Signs Two-Year Contract Extension

Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker signed a two-year contract extension, returning after a season that included a division title and a hospital stay.

The extension will keep Baker with the Reds through the 2014 Major League Baseball season, the team said in a news release on its website. The contract came after Baker completed his 19th year as a major league manager, equaling the length of his playing career.

Baker, 63, was admitted to a Chicago hospital for treatment of an irregular heartbeat on Sept. 19. The team clinched a playoff spot the following day and took the National League Central Division title two days later. On Sept. 21, Baker had a mini-stroke as he was being discharged from the hospital.

After missing 11 games, Baker returned for the team’s final series and playoffs. The Reds were eliminated in five games by the San Francisco Giants after taking a 2-0 division-series lead with consecutive road wins.

Baker is 419-391 in five seasons with the Reds, who went 97-65 this year to finish nine games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. As a manager with the Reds, Giants and Chicago Cubs, Baker is 1,581-1,432, winning five division titles and an NL pennant with the Giants in 2002. He’s been voted the NL’s Manager of the Year three times by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net