Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 9, 1990 TAG: 9005090192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And when Florida State plays Virginia Tech in baseball or basketball, it isn't difficult to determine the allegiances of Jim and Chip Baker.
It's brotherly love.
At Salem Municipal Field on Tuesday night, Tech basketball assistant Jim Baker was rooting for the baseball Seminoles. When the basketball Hokies rallied for a victory at Tallahassee, Fla., in February, Chip, in the third-base coaching box against VMI that day, hid a smile when his employer's loss was announced, to the accompaniment of boos, on the public-address system.
"When people ask who we root for, it's the other brother's job security," Jim said.
"We go with blood lines," said Chip.
Chip went to Hawaii to watch the Hokies play in basketball's Rainbow Classic. Jim has roomed with his brother twice when the Seminoles have played in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Jim, 33, is older by 18 months. Both are bachelors. As youngsters they played on the same teams for their dad, Walt. Their mother, Carolyn, was a physical education teacher at North Rowan High in Spencer, N.C., when they were growing up.
"And our grandmother worked in the cafeteria," Chip said. "Man, we couldn't do anything. They were everywhere."
Jim spent eight years as an assistant coach at Davidson before coming to Tech. Chip had already worked for the Hokies. He was Chuck Hartman's assistant for three seasons before moving to Georgia Tech and then to Florida State, where he is in his sixth season.
If the sibling situation didn't create enough closeness, there are other coincidentals to their relationship. Jim played basketball at Catawba College, where his coach was Sam Moir, brother of former Tech coach Charlie Moir.
Charlie Moir's former assistant, Frankie Allen, is now Jim's boss. Jim almost went to work for his college coach's brother, as Tech's graduate assistant in 1978. He spent a couple of days in Blacksburg, then got a better offer from Wingate.
Jim learned about the job he now holds at Tech while spending time with his younger brother.
"Last spring, I was sitting in Chip's box seats at Florida State and they were playing Tech," Jim said. "Coach Hartman walked by and yelled up to me, `Frankie's got a job open. Why don't you call him?' "
Baker did, and Chip also asked Seminoles basketball coach Pat Kennedy to call Allen and recommend his older brother.
Why did the Bakers become coaches?
"Our dad was a coach, and I think we just followed him," Jim said. "Maybe we didn't know any better."
Chip, a High Point College graduate who played for Hartman at the North Carolina school before joining him with the Hokies, called coaching "the gradual thing to do. We were a sports family.
"And I think a lot of it had to do with not playing much in college. We both sat, but we each knew we'd never be a jerk. There are guys who sit and be jerks about it. We'd hear our dad complaining about jerks, and we didn't want him complaining about us."
Sitting in a dugout in the ballpark's solitude on a sunny afternoon, Chip remembered the day his older brother made his career move.
"Jim's a year and a half older than me, but in Little League we were on the same team and I always got all of the hits," he said. "Then, one night, Jim got a double."
Across the dugout, Jim was beginning to grin at his brother's recollection.
"The next day in the newspaper, it said `Chip Baker had a double . . . ' "
Jim added, "And they had a picture of Chip, too."
Chip, fielding the relay, said, "Jim was so mad. That's what made him turn to basketball."
Each Baker boy says he never considered switching sports.
"I see how easy coaching basketball is," Chip said. "All they do is sit and watch films. Fortunately, they haven't invented that in baseball yet."
"Baseball coaches have got it made," Jim said. "Today I was in a meeting while Chip was out playing golf with Coach Hartman."
Hartman said the Baker brothers are the type of assistants a boss wants to have because of their work ethic and personalities.
"But two brothers couldn't be more different in some ways," said the Tech coach. "One [Jim] is quiet, reserved, immaculate, keeps his desk clean.
"The other [Chip] always has a pile of stuff laying around, is a free spirit and a big-time extrovert. Chip probably also has the first dime he ever made."
And if the story of these fabulous Baker boys was made into a film, Michelle Pfeiffer definitely could reprise her recent movie role.
"Yeah," Hartman said, "neither one of those guys is going to win any beauty contest, either."
by CNB