Darren Baker spent much of his childhood around baseball.

Former teammates, Braves executives and family members remember Hank Aaron's unwavering strength despite receiving racist hate mail and threats during his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record.

Just in time for the 50-year anniversary of Hank Aaron's record 715th home run, Charlie Russo is making available footage he shot of the homer.

Joe Espada has worked for an impressive group of managers.

Dusty Baker is returning to the San Francisco Giants for a third stint with the team, this time as a special assistant in the front office, according to a person with direct knowledge of the hire.

Joe Espada will be introduced as manager of the Houston Astros on Monday, a person familiar with the hiring told The Associated Press.

As Dusty Baker officially ended one notable chapter in his illustrious career, he said Thursday he feels an obligation to do more around the game with his next one.

Dusty Baker has retired as manager of the Houston Astros, ending an illustrious 26-year career as a big league skipper highlighted by a World Series win last season.

Coming a win shy of reaching the World Series would be considered a successful season for most teams.

Cristian Javier flopped and the Houston Astros never recovered, losing 11-4 to the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

Houston Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu was suspended for two games and fined by Major League Baseball, which said he intentionally threw at Adolis García of the Texas Rangers during Game 5 of the AL Championship Series.

The Houston Astros return home a win away from their third straight trip to the World Series.

Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the Houston Astros, after getting into another bench-clearing scuffle with the Texas Rangers, rallied for a 5-4 victory in a wild and testy Game 5 of the AL Championship Series.

Houston Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu and manager Dusty Baker were ejected from Game 5 of the AL Championship series after the reliever hit the Texas Rangers’ Adolis García with a pitch in the eighth inning, triggering benches to clear two innings after the slugger’s go-ahead home run.

José Abreu hit a three-run homer right after Yordan Alvarez’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and the Houston Astros pulled even in the AL Championship Series with a 10-3 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 4.

Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez is dealing with an ailment as the Astros face the Texas Rangers in the AL Championship Series, a person familiar with his condition told The Associated Press.

Texas Rangers starters Max Scherzer and Jon Gray were included on the roster for the AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros.

Houston dominated Texas during the regular season, winning nine of 13 matchups.

Everything is certainly bigger deep in the heart of Texas this baseball postseason.

José Abreu homered for the third time in two games for the Houston Astros in a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

José Abreu hit a three-run homer for Houston in a four-run first inning against Sonny Gray and piled on with a two-run shot in the ninth to power the Astros past the Minnesota Twins 9-1.

Houston manager Dusty Baker admitted this week that Carlos Correa is one of his favorite players.

Justin Verlander is scheduled to start for the Houston Astros against former teammate Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.

The Houston Astros aren't running away with the AL West as usual this year.

The Houston Astros made quite a powerful statement while slugging themselves back to the top of the AL West.

President Joe Biden says he can relate to Dusty Baker, the oldest manager to win the World Series.

When Martín Maldonado caught Framber Valdez’s no-hitter for the Houston Astros against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday night, it gave him three in his career, tying him for third-most in MLB history.

Framber Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history Tuesday night in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

Shohei Ohtan hit his major league-leading 33rd homer to key the Angels’ tying rally in the ninth inning, and rookie Trey Cabbage scored on rookie Grae Kessinger’s throwing error in the 10th to end Los Angeles’ wild 13-12 victory over the Houston Astros.

Dusty Baker and the All-Star Game are tailor made for each other.

The New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole will start Tuesday night’s All-Star Game for the American League and Arizona’s Zac Gallen will open on the mound for the NL.

James Outman scored the go-ahead run on a balk by Houston reliever Ryan Stanek in a wild eighth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the Astros 8-7 for their fourth straight victory.

Michael Busch doubled in the go-ahead in the fourth inning, Mookie Betts homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Houston Astros 3-2 in an acrimonious game.

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez is demanding that Major League Baseball change its basepath rule after catcher Keibert Ruiz’s ninth-inning throw hit runner Jake Meyers, resulting in a throwing error that gave the Houston Astros a 5-4 win.

Hunter Brown struck out a career-high 10 over seven innings and retired 16 straight hitters during one stretch, Corey Julks drove in three runs on a pair of singles and the Houston Astros bounced back from being shut out the two previous games to beat the Oakland Athletics 5-2.

Hunter Brown combined with two relievers on a two-hitter and the Houston Astros shut out the major league-best Tampa Bay Rays for the second straight game, 1-0.

Rookie Taj Bradley won his third consecutive start to begin his big league career and the Tampa Bay Rays set a modern era MLB record with their 14th consecutive home win to begin a season, 8-3 over the Houston Astros.

A major shift is coming to Major League Baseball, starting on opening day this Thursday.

Baseball has transformed in the 145 days since Dusty Baker and the Houston Astros’ sealed up the franchise’s second title in six seasons.

Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve seems headed for a lengthy stint on the injured list after being hit on the hand with a pitch while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.

So far, baseball's new speed-up rules are working.

Baseball's new rules designed to improve pace of play are coming fast at everyone, particularly the players.

Dusty Baker finally got his elusive championship with the Houston Astros, garnering his first World Series ring in 25 years as a manager in one of the most memorable moments of the year in sports.

Terry Francona of the Cleveland Guardians and Buck Showalter of the New York Mets have been voted Managers of the Year, improving the already sparkling resumes of both veteran baseball leaders.

Houston Astros general manager James Click will not be given a new contract.

Houston's Dusty Baker and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Dave Roberts are the only Black managers in Major League Baseball.

Fresh off his World Series win, Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker has agreed to a one-year contract to remain with the team next season.

An estimated more than 1 million fans celebrated the Houston Astros’ World Series win with a downtown parade.

The Houston Astros just won their second World Series in six years and have been a consistent presence in the playoffs.

Jeremy Peña became the first rookie position player to win a World Series MVP after hitting.

For now and forever, Dusty Baker, the epic storyteller, first-class name-dropper, toothpick chewer and baseball lifer will bear a most distinguished title.

Yordan Alvarez hit a towering three-run homer and the Houston Astros clinched their second World Series title in six seasons with a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6.

Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel will miss the rest of the World Series after spraining his right knee in Game 5.

Dusty Baker has been here before.

Houston Astros center fielder Chas McCormick and fill-in first baseman Trey Mancini both made key defensive plays in the late innings that helped preserve a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series.

Houston Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña put on quite an all-around performance Thursday night in Game 5 of the World Series.

First lady Jill Biden joined the Standup to Cancer tribute in the middle of the fifth inning of Game 4 of the World Series.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros are set to play Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday night.

While Kyle Schwarber and the Philadelphia Phillies took batting practice ahead of Game 3, Mr Hollywood DJ and DJ Smooth stood behind a turntable near the home dugout, spinning tunes from a playlist created by backup catcher Garrett Stubbs.

Starting extra innings with a runner on second base, the rule adopted by Major League Baseball as a way to shorten games during the pandemic, might be sticking around.

Game 3 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros has been postponed because of rain with the matchup tied 1-1, pushing the entire Fall Classic schedule back one day.

The World Series is set to return to Philadelphia for the first time since 2009 when the Phillies host the Houston Astros in Game 3 on Monday night.

Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. wasn’t born in Houston, but he sure loves it now.

For the first time in a sluggish postseason, Jose Altuve looked like himself in Game 2 of the World Series.

The Astros and Phillies travel Friday to Texas, where Game 6 of the World Series will be played a night later.

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Players’ union head Tony Clark says years of inattention by Major League Baseball has contributed to the World Series being played without any U.S.-born Black players for the first time since 1950.

Framber Valdez will start Game 2 of the World Series for the Houston Astros on Saturday night against Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dusty Baker is deeply disturbed that there project to be no U.S.-born Black players in this year's World Series.

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson is kind of a big deal back home.

Justin Verlander remains in search of his first World Series win after going 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven Series starts.

No U.S.-born Black players are projected to be on World Series rosters when the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros meet this week.

Bruce Bochy is coming out of a short retirement in hopes to get a title for the home team.

Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies are set to play the Houston Astros in the World Series.

Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman delivered big hits and the Houston Astros advanced to the World Series again, finishing a four-game sweep of New York in the AL Championship Series with a 6-5 victory aided by another defensive gaffe from the Yankees.

With the Houston Astros one win from reaching the World Series again, Game 4 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees has started after an 84-minute delay due to the threat of rain.

Cristian Javier and Houston’s bullpen combined on a three-hitter, Chas McCormick followed a dropped flyball with an early two-run homer and the Astros beat Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees 5-0 to take a 3-0 AL Championship Series lead.

Astros star Jose Altuve was more than happy to oblige when a fan ran onto the field and asked the Houston second baseman to take a selfie with him during Game 2 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees’ season keeps coming down to Gerrit Cole.

Justin Verlander struck out 11 in six strong innings and Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña all homered to power the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in their AL Championship Series opener.

Houston Astros star Jose Altuve has long been a postseason powerhouse.

There was bunting draped off the railings in October and logos painted on the grass of T-Mobile Park that were absent for the past two decades when the Seattle Mariners were stuck in baseball purgatory and left as a spectator every postseason.

Yordan Alvarez and his mighty bat did it yet again, launching a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning off Seattle ace Luis Castillo that lifted the Houston Astros over the Mariners 4-2 for a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series.

When Justin Verlander takes the mound for the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners, it will have been almost three years since his last playoff appearance.

Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Kyle Schwarber homered twice as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first playoff berth in 11 years with a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros Monday night.

Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies hoped to be in this position.

Shohei Ohtani vs.

Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan was pulled in the fifth inning with neck tightness during a 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros.

Yordan Alvarez homered in his first three at-bats, Justin Verlander threw five hitless innings in his return from the injured list and the Houston Astros clinched a postseason berth with a 5-0 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Mike Trout homered in his sixth straight game to set an Angels franchise record, Shohei Ohtani threw five solid innings before exiting because of a blister and Los Angeles beat the Houston Astros 6-1.

Justin Verlander pitched three scoreless innings before departing because of right calf discomfort, and the Houston Astros used five relievers to close out a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez isn't in the lineup for a game against the Atlanta Braves a day after being taken to a hospital because of shortness of breath.

Astros left fielder Yordan Alvarez was taken to a hospital during Friday night's game against the Atlanta Braves because of shortness of breath.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker has returned for the finale of a series against the Texas Rangers following a five-game absence after testing positive for COVID-19.

Cal Quantrill pitched six scoreless innings and Amed Rosario had a two-run single, lifting the Cleveland Guardians to a 4-1 victory over the AL West-leading Houston Astros.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker tested positive for COVID-19 prior to Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians.

Justin Verlander pitched six scoreless innings for his MLB-leading 15th victory, Chas McCormick and Martin Maldonado each homered and had three RBIs, and the AL West-leading Houston Astros beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-0.

Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez was not called out after a third strike in a win over the Boston Red Sox.

Abraham Toro pinch-hit for injured All-Star Julio Rodriguez and delivered a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied past the AL-West leading Houston Astros 5-4.

Justin Verlander became the major leagues’ first 13-game winner, striking out nine and topping 99 mph in his final inning to lead the Houston Astros over the Seattle Mariners 3-1.