Sactown Magazine
The Heart of a Giant
When it comes to baseball, Dusty Baker plays to win. He s also living proof that the most important stats aren t measured in hits and runs, but in heart and soul.
April 28, 2021
Without a second opinion, Dusty Baker might never have been the star athlete who morphed into one of baseball’s winningest managers. As a teenager in 1966, a benign heart murmur was misdiagnosed as a significantly more serious condition. He was told to quit all strenuous activities particularly football, which he loved. “They told me I’d never play sports again. I was 16,” Baker says, sitting in the empty tasting room closed due to the pandemic of his West Sacramento winery, Baker Family Wines, in early January. His family had just moved to Carmichael from Riverside after his dad landed a job at McClellan Air Force Base, and he’d already made an impression as a touchdown maker at Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks. But his father, Johnnie B. Baker Sr. (
Science, power of smell is focus of UC Davis lecture
In a time when the loss of smell is one of the notable effects of COVID-19, an upcoming joint lecture will explore the composition of aromas and their role in how people experience food and the world around them, hosted by UC Davis at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The online event will feature food-science author Harold McGee, whose new book, “Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells,” reveals the power of smell to expose unseen details of the world and life, and UC Davis Professor Susan Ebeler, who studies how aroma compounds interact and contribute to complex food and beverage flavors.