BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : The Four-30 Club a Hot Topic Again

San Francisco Giant Manager Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith, Dodger hitting coach, relived their memories of 18 years ago, affectionately remembering the occasion as if it were yesterday.

It was Oct. 2, 1977. The Dodgers had clinched the division title two weeks earlier, but now there was something else.

Baker was stuck on 29 homers and needed one more to make the Dodgers the first team to have four players hit at least 30 homers, joining Smith, Ron Cey and Steve Garvey. Baker had failed to hit a homer for four days, and now, he had to achieve the feat against Houston’s J.R. Richard.

“There was tremendous pressure on me,” Baker said. “Everybody had already done it but me, but what made it worse was that Reggie told J.R.. that I’m going to hit a homer off him. I said, ‘What? Are you crazy? Now I’ll never get it.’ ”

Baker, on the next-to-last at-bat, hit a low fastball over the center-field fence. History was made.

Now, Baker and Smith have resigned themselves to the fact that they’re about to have company. Four Colorado Rockies are on pace to hit 30 home runs: Larry Walker (26), Dante Bichette (26), Vinny Castilla (24) and Andres Galarraga (22).

“Yeah, but the one thing they’ll never be able to be,” Smith said, “is first.”