Joe Gibbs may be focused on winning the Daytona 500 this week, but he took time to have a conversation with new Nationals manager Dusty Baker to discuss business.
Baker was seeking advice on how to juggle being an accomplished coach and an entrepreneur, something Gibbs knows all about with his four NASCAR Sprint Cup teams, three Xfinity teams and a writing and motivational speaking gig on the side. Of course, Gibbs has experience coaching a pro sports team in Washington, having led the Redskins to three Super Bowl wins.
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“It was a great conversation," Baker told reporters Friday. "I was asking him, ‘How do you put your business to the side, or don’t you?’ Because I spent a lot of time and effort and money getting my businesses together thinking I might not be back in baseball.
“He was very, very, very helpful because I was trying to figure out who I could talk to that could sort of direct me that had been through what I was about to go through.”
Baker partnered with a renewable energy company (Baker Energy Team) in California, owns a vineyard (tied to the Baker Family Wines business) and even wrote a book about a 1967 Jimi Hendrix concert and one heck of a weekend in Monterey, Calif. But now that he is back in baseball, Baker will have to rely on a partner to operate his businesses.
Baker said he took Gibbs' advice to heart.
“I had never met him before and he prayed with me on the phone,” Baker told the media. “I thought that was a heck of a gesture."