John Baker is back with the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs announced Thursday afternoon that John Baker has been added to the front office as a baseball operations assistant.
John Baker spent the 2014 season with the Cubs and provided the highlights in the most memorable game of the year. Baker was the winning pitcher in the 16-inning marathon with the Rockies at the end of July.
After pitching a scoreless inning, Baker walked to start the bottom of the 16th and scored the winning run on a sac fly from Starlin Castro. The John Baker Game, as it was called at the time, took six hours and 27 minutes to play and is the longest game in franchise history.
Baker put his name in the history books when he became the first Cubs’ position player to be the winning pitcher in a regular season game.
John Baker appeared in 68 games and hit .192/.273/.231 with seven doubles.
Baker, 34, recently retired after 14 professional seasons as a catcher (2002-15), including the 2014 campaign with the Cubs. Overall, Baker played seven major league seasons with the Florida Marlins (2008-11), San Diego Padres (2012-13) and Cubs (2014).
In his new role with the organization, Baker will contribute to all elements within the club’s baseball operations department, including player development and scouting with an eye towards catching and mental skills. He will visit the club’s affiliates to work with the minor league players on and off the field, evaluate amateur players leading up to the draft, and spend time around the major league club among additional responsibilities and opportunities.
Baker was originally selected by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 2002 Draft out of the University of California, Berkeley and made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2008. He batted .247 (266-for-1,076) with 14 home runs and 120 RBI in 359 big league contests and went 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA (0 ER/1.0 IP) in one career major league relief appearance.
John Baker joins Billy Williams, Kerry Wood, Ted Lilly, Tommy Hottovy, Darnell McDonald and Ryan Dempster as former players that currently have roles in the Cubs’ front office.