Top 100 Angels: Don BAYLOR #16

by Rev Halofan on Mar 14, 2009 6:00 PM PDT in 100 Top Angels

#16 DON BAYLOR - OF/DH (1977-1982)

If the only season Don Baylor ever played as an Angel had been his 1979 AL MVP campaign, he would still be in the top 40 on this Top 100 Angels list.

If the 1979 Angels had won the World Series he'd be in the Top 3.

They called him GROOVE. We wrote about him in our Top 100 Angels compiled after the 2005 season. His CAREER STATS are not quite Cooperstown but are the essence of a great player. If Don has any knocks on him it could be his "product of his time" fluidity, moving from team to team, not quite associated with any single franchise in a solid way. He won a ring with Minnesota in 1987, the MVP in Anaheim, a Silver Slugger with Boston and even won the Roberto Clemente Award with the Yankees in 1985. This was after his magnificent early days with the Orioles and a curtain call with the AL pennant winning A's in 1988.

Plus he managed the Rockies and Cubs for a total of 8 and a half seasons.

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Comments

1/3 of the way into "one strike away" ...

and it sure sounds like Baylor was a critical member of the 1986 Red Sox. I know he left a devastating blow in the ALCS Game 6 against Witt with his 2-run HR that started the comeback. But reading this story of the 86 sox, he was really a leader in the Boston clubhouse.

by Downing Rules on Mar 14, 2009 9:29 PM PDT reply actions

Just finished it; am halfway through Baylor's memoir

In the Baylor book, he came this close to knocking Jim Rice’s block off, on grounds of being a selfish jerk. Dewey Evans talked him out of it.

by mattwelch on Mar 15, 2009 9:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Go ahead, try to knock him back with an inside pitch

Automatic 1B. He won’t budge.

Angel Pitching, Angel Defense - get past that.

by vladtheimpaler on Mar 15, 2009 1:17 AM PDT reply actions

That was a unique aspect of Baylor...

…usually a slight turn of his back toward the pitcher as the ball bore in on him. And then – without rubbing, grimacing, or glaring – a flip of the bat and a slow jog to first base. About the same reaction as if he had been hit with a whiffle ball.

by sothball on Mar 15, 2009 8:55 AM PDT up reply actions

The one time he rubbed it

Was when Nolan Ryan hit him.

by mattwelch on Mar 15, 2009 9:25 AM PDT up reply actions

What I find remarkable...

…he was HBP 35 times in 1986, or once every 16-17 AB’s. He turned 37 years old that year!
That was the 3rd of 4 consecutive years he led the majors in that category, and one of 7 years he led MLB in that category.
Tough dude….wouldn’t give an inch.

by sothball on Mar 15, 2009 10:39 AM PDT up reply actions

I'll never forget the night..

In 1979 when Baylor hit two home runs off Rich Gossage and the Yankees. He hit a solo shot in the 8th and the second one….with two out in the bottom of the 9th…A three run shot off the foul pole in left to tie the game. The Angels went on to win the game in 12 innings. What a great night.

by njhalofan on Mar 16, 2009 4:43 PM PDT reply actions

Question (yet again) for you as well as older Halo fans that were around back in the day

Were there as many Yankee fans back then at the Big A as there are now when the Skanks come to town?

by stolenbases on Mar 16, 2009 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions

As far back as I remember, there have always been lots of Yankee fans at Angel home games.

It is the number of Bosux fans that seem to have dramatically increased since…oh…2004.

by sothball on Mar 17, 2009 5:45 AM PDT up reply actions

You don't mean bosux fans, you mean

Bosux bandwagoners

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Mar 17, 2009 8:31 AM PDT up reply actions

In 1995 ...

the one year I had a full season’s worth of tickets (try going to 81 games in a season … woof, there are times you couldn’t even GIVE THEM AWAY)

Back then, there weren’t many Red Sox fans. However, the few that were there were representin’ in a big way – they talked just as much smack, if not more, than the Yankee fans. It used to irk me that they could talk so much and yet have nothing to back it up since 1918. At least the Yankee fans had something to talk about. I could always tip my hat and say “yeah you’re right — you got the rings.” But for the Sox fans, “what do you have except finishing second to the Yankees year in and year out? Even the year you beat us, you forgot that you beat us because of Buckner! HAHA!”

by Downing Rules on Mar 17, 2009 11:55 AM PDT up reply actions

Cleveland Indians

Remember when the Indians would come to the Big A and have lots of fans during their mid to late 90s heyday? The Mariners fans used to come out in decent numbers too post 1995 up until about the late 90s which used to irk me.

by stolenbases on Mar 18, 2009 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Red Sox

They seemed to start gaining in popularity during the mid to late 90s during the Yankees revitalization and seemed to take over the “lovable” loser tag from the Cubs as a result even though I never thought the Red Sox had that much bad luck to begin with since they were still able to make it to the World Series.

Now after their WS victories, their popularity has just gotten out of hand.

by stolenbases on Mar 18, 2009 7:27 PM PDT up reply actions

Sunday at the A'ss game

I was talking with a Yankees fan, and noted that Yankees fans tend to be cocky, but they’ve earned the right.
Bosux fans, or more properly the “Nation” full of bandwagoners, that’s another story.

Angels fan since '67

by red floyd on Mar 17, 2009 8:32 AM PDT up reply actions

I live with them..they suck

“Yankee fans tend to be cocky”? Here in NJ they are a bunch of egg suckin obnoxious jerks who pound their chests when they sweep KC but wet their pants just at the mention of the Angels. They are our bitches and we need to smack ’em around to remind them who their master is. On the other hand, the Red Sox fans I know actually like the Angels. For exactly the reason stated above. In 2002, a Red Sox fan gave me a hug and said “Thank you. Thank you.”

by njhalofan on Mar 18, 2009 5:00 PM PDT up reply actions