Baseball Loses A Beloved Figure

Don Baylor impacted the lives of everyone he met

- Tracy Ringolsby

I didn’t even cry when my father died.

Dang, Don Baylor, I can’t believe you made me do it.

I don’t have a particular memory of the first time I met Baylor—just four decades of memories of what a special

person he was and how he impacted the lives of so many.

He never backed down from any challenge, not even multiple myeloma, which he battled for 14 years before passing away on Aug. 7.

Baylor will be forever remembered in baseball lore as the 1979 American League MVP, when he helped the Angels claim the first postseason berth in franchise history.

He will be forever remembered as the first player to play in three consecutive World Series for three different teams, which happened to come at the end of his career.

And he will be forever remembered as the National League Manager of the Year in 1995, when he took the 3-year-old Rockies to the NL Championship Series, which at the time was the quickest an expansion team had qualified for the playoffs.

Oh, but there was so much more to remember about Baylor, the man who took pride in everything he did and demanded the same from his players.

He let it be known from Day 1 in spring training of 1993 that coats and ties would be worn during travel, regardless of the time the planes might land in the next city, and for every game, every player would be expected to be on the top step in the dugout for the national anthem.