And you are?: Dusty Baker temporarily denied access to Yankee Stadium

We've seen a fairly high number of security problems at sporting events in recent weeks.

That includes the incident from earlier in the week that ultimately led to a PNC Park security guard losing a finger. Not to mention the fan that ran on the field in Baltimore last month that umpire Jeff Kellogg dealt with himself, or the woman who stumbled onto the court in Denver right in the middle of an NBA playoff game.

Perhaps it was with these episodes fresh in his mind that a Yankee Stadium security guard went above and beyond to deny access to a highly suspicous character wandering around the front gates while chewing on a toothpick on Friday afternoon.

That's one possibility. Another is that this particular security guard hasn't seen a whole lot of baseball over the years, because the person he held in question was one of the more recognizable personalities in the game. That being Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker.

Here's how Baker described the confusing confrontation just prior to the Reds 4-0 loss to the Yankees on Friday night.

"It's hard to get in this bad boy," Baker said. "Some guy asked, 'Hey, can I help you?'

I was in the front trying to get in. I said I was here for the game.

He told me, 'The gates aren't open yet.'

I told him, 'I'm the manager.'

He was like, 'Of what?'

I said, 'Of the baseball team.'

He said, 'What's your name?'

I said, 'Dusty Baker.' He still didn't know me. Another guy came over and recognized me."

Had Baker known Andy Pettitte was going to pitch like he'd never skipped a single start, let alone an entire season, he probably wouldn't have hung around long enough for the second guard to recognize him. But as it was, he finally gained entry and had one of the best seats in the house for Pettitte's first victory since 2010.

But perhaps the funniest part of this story is that it's not the first time Baker has had a misidentidication issue involving a Yankee Stadium. The first incident happened while he was the htting coach for the San Francisco Giants just prior to becoming their manager in 1993.

"I was in a cab reading a newspaper, and I told the cabbie to take me to the stadium," Baker said. "I wasn't paying attention. He said, `Here we are."'

After getting his wits about him Baker realized something was off.

"I said `I didn't want to come to Yankee Stadium. I wanted to go to Shea Stadium,"' Baker explained. "He said, `Sir, you said The Stadium.' I didn't know that in New York The Stadium was Yankee Stadium. So a $20 cab ride turned out to like a $45 cab ride."

Now that Dusty Baker knows what and where The Stadium is, and now that The Stadium's security knows who Dusty Baker is, things should go much smoother for him on Saturday. Well, off the field at least. The Reds will still have their work cut out for them on it.

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