Tom Groeschen

tgroeschen@enquirer.com

A smiling, jocular Dusty Baker returned to Great American Ball Park to face his former Cincinnati Reds franchise Friday, and the first-year Washington manager Friday quickly brought down the house in a pre-game interview.

With a large contingent of both Cincinnati and Washington media crowded into the GABP field-level interview room, Baker said several Cincinnati people have told him how much they miss him. That included a trip to his old barber shop on a Nationals off-day Thursday in Cincinnati.

“I started thinking about way back a long time ago, an old girlfriend told me they missed me after they broke up with me,” Baker said, to laughter. ‘And maybe you weren’t so bad after all.’ ”

More laughter, this time louder. The storytelling Baker was back and, in a familiar sight, had reporters lapping up each word.

Baker said he returned to Cincinnati for a function last November at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, but Friday was Baker’s first trip to GABP since the Reds fired him. The dismissal came Oct. 4, 2013, after a Wild Card playoff loss to Pittsburgh.

It was the Reds’ third postseason appearance in the previous four years under Baker, but three early postseason exits finally led Reds brass to oust Baker.

Since then, the Reds have plummeted and the 66-year-old Baker has found new life after two years out of baseball.

Baker’s Nationals entered Friday atop the National League East at 33-21, three games ahead of the second-place New York Mets.

The rebuilding Reds entered Friday in last place in the NL Central with a 19-35 record, 19 games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs.

“You wonder, was there a need to break it up so thoroughly?” Baker said, when asked about the Reds. “We were close. We were real close. You know, people can do what they want to do with their system. I’m very happy where I am. I really like Washington D.C.”

Baker managed the Reds from 2008-13 and won NL Central titles in 2010 and 2012. Philadelphia (2010) and San Francisco (2012) sent the Reds packing in the respective National League Division Series. Especially galling was 2012, when the Reds brought a 2-0 series lead back home but then lost three straight to San Francisco.

The Reds reached the 2013 NL Wild Card game, but Baker was fired after the Reds lost the game to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the Reds’ sixth straight loss to end the season, which then-General Manager Walt Jocketty said was a factor in dismissing Baker.

“We felt a new direction, a new voice might be necessary,” Jocketty told The Enquirer at the time.

That voice became Bryan Price, who was Baker’s pitching coach with the Reds from 2010-13.

“I was here with Dusty for four years, four really successful years, and learned a lot from him,” Price said before Friday’s game. “We’ve got to focus on what we need to do to be efficient, not manage so much against him or their team so much as trying to put our club in the best position to be successful. He’s got a great team coming in.”

BIG WINNER: Baker last month recorded his 1,700th career win as a manager, second only to San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy among active managers and 17th all-time.

Baker also has managed the San Francisco Giants (1993-2002) and Chicago Cubs (2003-06), highlighted by a National League pennant in 2002. Baker owns five division titles and seven playoff appearances.

DC STORY: In Washington, Baker inherited a talented team but a fractured clubhouse, after a disappointing 2015 season.

The Nationals were considered a World Series favorite last year, but finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs. Washington fired manager Matt Williams after the season.

Williams’ handling of the pitching staff often was questioned, and the Washington Post reported that Williams’ relationships with some players had “frayed” deeper into the season.

Enter Baker, long considered a player’s manager. Baker's list of superstars has included Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Joey Votto and now Bryce Harper, but Baker is known for making his entire 25-man roster feel wanted and needed.

Sammy Solis, a second-year Washington relief pitcher, said the straight-shooting Baker was just what the Nationals needed.

“It was just a little uneasy last year,” Solis said. “It’s a much different coaching style. With Matt Williams, it was a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of thing. With this, Dusty wants you to work hard but at the same time, we’re family. Communication is huge with him. We’re having fun, and we’re enjoying being around each other as much as we are playing.”

Washington outfielder Chris Heisey, a former Red, is among the least surprised at the Nationals’ turnaround. Heisey broke into the majors under Baker in 2010 and was with the Reds through 2014. Heisey signed with Washington for 2016 as a free agent.

“There’s the track record,” Heisey said of Baker. “He’s won at a lot of different places, never the World Series as a manager but he’s been close. He just has that respect of, one, having a good playing career and two, having a good managerial record coming in here.

“He likes to keep it loose, and I think guys have really responded well. Guys are playing loose and relaxed.”

MORE BAKER: Baker did not get much chance to see some of his former Reds players in pre-game, with the Reds having returned from their Colorado series in the wee hours Friday. Reds players were allowed to report later than usual for Friday’s game.

“I helped raise a lot of those guys,” Baker said. “Still, your heart’s with certain people in certain places. ... Joey Votto, I was really his first extended manager. (Zack) Cozart was a rookie. Jay Bruce was a rookie. Brandon (Phillips) had been here. I hear from him. Jay Bruce sent me some photos when he just had his baby.

“You live and die and cry and laugh with a bunch of guys for a long period of time, you form bonds that are forever. We had some very pleasant times here.”