Card Corner: 1973 Topps: Don Baylor

If you’re a younger fan, you think of Don Baylor as a steely, rugged-looking manager or as a burly slugger in the latter stages of his career. But if you’re a fan of middle age proportions (somebody like me), you might just remember the young Don Baylor, whom Topps captured fantastically on his 1973 card.

Looking lean but muscular, Baylor is seen at the apex of his swing, his bat pointed dramatically toward left field, where it appears that he has just planted a line drive. This Baylor is not just a one-dimensional slugger, but a dynamic four-tool talent who combines line-drive power with breakout speed and surprising range in the outfield.

Baylor created a distinctive image whenever he came to the plate. Holding his bat high but keeping his hands unusually close to his chest, he seemed to uncoil when he unleashed one of his typically ferocious swings. Baylor swung so hard that I thought he would eventually fall down on a swing and a miss, but he never did, at least not that I can remember.

image

When the Orioles drafted Baylor in the second round of the amateur draft, they envisioned another Frank Robinson. That projection turned out to be overly optimistic, but Baylor nonetheless showed himself to be a top-of-the-line prospect. Except for throwing, he could do it all. After hitting .346 for Bluefield in the Appalachian League, he started the 1968 season in the California League, beginning a quick ascent up the Orioles’ organizational ladder. He hit .369 for Stockton, earning a mid-season promotion to the Eastern League.

After demolishing Double-A pitching in a six-game trial, the O’s quickly bumped him up to Rochester of the International League, where he struggled at the tail-end of the season. The following summer, Baylor strangely went back down to Class-A ball before moving up to Double-A Dallas/Ft. Worth, where he hit an even .300 and stole 19 bases.

That performance proved him worthy of another shot at Triple-A ball, which he received in the summer of 1970. Putting in nearly a full season for Rochester, Baylor blossomed, hitting .327 with 22 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Winning The Sporting News’ Minor League Player of the Year Award, Baylor looked to be ready for an assignment to Baltimore.

When given an eight-game cup of coffee with the world champion Orioles, Baylor struggled. But he remained confident. “If I get into my groove,” Baylor said one day, “I’m gonna play every day.” His teammates took notice of the extreme confidence, sarcastically dubbing him “Groove.” More pertinently, he faced the quandary of an overloaded outfield, which featured Robinson, Don Buford, Paul Blair, and Merv Rettenmund.

Thanks to the multiple roadblocks, Baylor went back to Triple-A in 1971, practically repeated his huge numbers of the previous season, and received only a one-game look-see in Baltimore. Clearly, something needed to give in order to clear some space for Baylor with the Orioles.

The break that Baylor craved came at the historic 1971 winter meetings, when the Orioles traded Frank Robinson to the Dodgers for Doyle Alexander and several prospects. The trade of Robinson didn’t move Baylor into the starting lineup—that promotion was reserved for Rettenmund—but it did give him a prominent role as a fourth outfielder in Earl Weaver’s outfield. When Rettenmund, Buford and Blair all slumped, Baylor earned plenty of playing time and emerged as Baltimore’s most productive outfielder. He hit 11 home runs and stole 24 bases, giving the plodding Orioles a much-needed boost of speed.

That brings us to 1973, when this action shot of Baylor first appeared in stationery and drug stores. It’s almost as if the folks at Topps knew that Baylor was ready to move into the starting lineup, so they spotlighted him with one of the coolest cards of their new action-laden set. Baylor didn’t play every day for the Orioles, but he did appear in a career-high 118 games, stole 32 bases, and posted an OPS of .794. He also showed himself to be an aggressive hitter who crowded the plate. Never one to flinch on inside fastballs, Baylor led the American League with 12 hit-by-pitches.

In 1974, Baylor’s OPS fell by 70 points, an indication of more growing pains in his game. But he drew the admiration of Orioles manager Earl Weaver for the way that he ran the bases, in particular his tendency to apply ferocious takeout slides at second base. “He gets down to second base as fast as anyone,” Weaver told The Sporting News. “Baylor doesn’t [slide hard] for himself. He does it to keep the inning alive.”

On one play, Baylor ran over Indians second baseman Angel Hermoso, knocking him out for three months because of a knee injury. Feeling terrible about the incident, Baylor phoned Hermoso in the hospital, but the Indians felt that Baylor had executed a clean slide with no malicious intent.

Then came the outbreak of 1975, when he more than doubled his home run production (hitting 25 blasts), lifted his OPS to .849, and earned some support for American League MVP. At the age of 26, Baylor had arrived as both a legitimate power source and dangerous base stealer.

That also turned out to be Baylor’s final season in Baltimore. A series of court decisions and a new collective bargaining agreement had created free agency. Baylor, like many other stars, would become a free agent at the end of the 1976 season. The Orioles, seeing a chance to acquire another impending free agent, a fellow named Reggie Jackson, decided to part with Baylor. The O’s sent Baylor, right-hander Mike Torrez, and top pitching prospect Paul Mitchell to Oakland for Jackson and accomplished left-hander Ken Holtzman.

As good as Baylor was, he didn’t quite have the jawbreaking power or throwing arm Jackson possessed. Most baseball scouts favored the Orioles in assessing the deal. But Baylor did fit into the system preferred by new Oakland manager Chuck Tanner. Realizing that the newly fashioned A’s would have less power to rely on, Tanner encouraged his team to run at all times. Giving all of his players the green light, Tanner watched the A’s run roughshod against American League catchers. The A’s set a record by stealing 341 bases, or an average of more than two per game. No one was more emblematic of their wild running attack than Baylor, who stole 52 bases, a total that he would never come close to approaching over the balance of his career.

The A’s split Baylor’s playing time between right field and first base, even though he had a very weak throwing arm that mandated he should have been in left field. (Baylor’s lone weakness as a player was his throwing; due to a high school football injury to his right shoulder, he could hardly throw at all. In fact, Baylor had such a poor throwing arm that he never once doubled off a runner on the basepaths.) Baylor did well in creating havoc on the bases for the A‘s, but his batting average and power both suffered. He struggled badly at the Oakland Coliseum, where the expansive foul territory and poor sight lines tended to weaken productive sluggers like Baylor.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Even if Baylor had hit better, it’s still likely that Charlie Finley would have failed to offer him a new contract. Baylor hit the open market running, signing a massive six-year contract with the rival California Angels.

Some of California’s free agent acquisitions would turn out to be relative disappointments, including the sore-backed Bobby Grich and the aging Joe Rudi, but Baylor remained productive. Doing most of his damage as a DH, Baylor hit 25 home runs and stole 26 bases.

Baylor also impressed the Southern California media with his hard-nosed approach to the game. They took note of his hustle, his aggressive baserunning, and his ability to vault second basemen and shortstops into somersaults on potential double play balls. Other than perhaps Kansas City’s Hal McRae, no player took out middle infielders with more ferocity than Baylor. A future Angels teammate, Rick Burleson, would call Baylor the toughest baserunner in the league, ahead of McRae, George Brett, Al Bumbry, and Ron LeFlore.

His reputation firmly in place, Baylor would fare even better in 1977. Feeling more comfortable in his second season with the Angels, Baylor reached career highs with 34 home runs and 99 RBIs, and lifted his OPS to .804. American League beat writers took note, giving Baylor enough consideration to place him seventh in the league’s MVP sweepstakes.

Still, Baylor’s numbers would pale in comparison to what he accomplished in 1979. For the first time in his career, he batted over .290. He clubbed 36 home runs, led the league with 139 RBIs, and slugged .530. He also stole 22 bases and walked 71 times, pushing the Angels to their first division title and postseason appearance.

Though his selection has become much debated by Sabermetricians in subsequent years, and a good argument can be made in favor of teammate Bobby Grich, Baylor won the American League MVP. It’s a myth that Baylor became the first fulltime DH to win the MVP—he appeared as a DH only 65 times—but his ability to hit for both average and power clearly won over the voters. Without question, Baylor had arrived as a major league star.

Baylor’s all-around play drew high praise from Angels manager Jim Fregosi, who felt that his veteran outfielder had been unfairly typecast as a one-dimensional slugger. “It’s so unfair,” Fregosi told Peter Gammons. “He’s a good outfielder. There’s just one thing he can’t do [throw].” Angels GM Buzzie Bavasi concurred. “If he could throw,” Bavasi told Gammons, “he’d be the perfect player.”

The 1979 season represented the apex of Baylor’s career. The following summer, injuries robbed him of much of his power. Plagued by a broken wrist and a dislocated toe, he hit only five home runs and slugged a mere .341. He then bounced back with two solid seasons, including a 24-home run campaign in 1982.

Though Baylor was still a productive player, he was now 33. With his contract having run its course, he was again eligible for free agency. The Angels made little effort to sign him, standing by as Baylor took his heavy bat back to the East Coast, signing with the Yankees.

By now Baylor looked much different than he had at the beginning of his career. With at least 30 pounds of additional weight, mostly muscle, Baylor took on the look of a behemoth. But the Yankees needed someone to play first base, so they gave the veteran a tryout in Ft. Lauderdale. Lacking both range and soft hands, Baylor handled the position atrociously in practice and exhibition games. Realizing that he could not play first base on a fulltime basis, the Yankees made Baylor their primary DH. Giving Dave Winfield some much-needed support in the middle of the Yankee order, Baylor hit 21 home runs and slugged .494. As a bonus, he hit .303, batting over .300 for the first time in his career.

Despite being a pull hitter at Yankee Stadium, where the Death Valley dimensions ruined many a right-handed slugger, Baylor remained productive over the next two seasons in New York. But he grew disenchanted with the circus atmosphere in New York, in particular the managerial style of Billy Martin. Baylor became such a vocal leader against Martin that the Yankees hired Willie Horton as their “tranquility coach.” The Yankees hoped that Horton, an ally of Martin from their days in Detroit, would neutralize Baylor’s influence in the Yankee clubhouse.

When it became apparent that Baylor would soon become a platoon player in New York, he asked for a trade at the end of the 1985 season. The Yankees tried to oblige him, reaching agreement on a blockbuster, multiplayer trade that principally would have sent Baylor to the White Sox for Carlton Fisk, but Baylor exercised his no-trade clause to block the deal. He said he would only accept the deal if the White Sox satisfied some of his specific financial demands. It seemed like a disingenuous move on the part of Baylor. He had practically demanded a trade, the Yankees had satisfied the request, and now Baylor wanted no part of the White Sox.

Baylor reported to the Yankees’ spring training camp in Ft. Lauderdale, but he remained on the trade block. In late March, the Yankees finally found a new suitor, but it was a deal that George Steinbrenner pestered GM Clyde King into making, against his better judgment. The Yankees foolishly sent Baylor to the rival Red Sox for another DH, the left-handed hitting Mike Easler. It would turn out to be a steal for Beantown.

With his tendency to pull pitches and hit fly balls, Baylor proved an ideal match for the unusual dimensions of Fenway Park. For the season, he hit 31 home runs, giving the Red Sox yet another right-handed slugger, in back of Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, and Dave Henderson. As an added bonus, Baylor was hit by pitches 35 times, which not only led the league but also represented a career high. (With 30 home runs and 30 hit-by-pitches, it might have been the strangest 30/30 season in big league history.)

A major factor in the Red Sox’ run for the American League pennant, Baylor exerted an unusual amount of leadership for a player. When Rangers coach Tim Foli initiated some severe bench jockeying against Oil Can Boyd, the 37-year-old Baylor walked out of the dugout between innings and confronted Foli, telling him to shut up. Foli kept quiet for the rest of the series.

After playing in his first World Series, Baylor put up similar solid power ratios in his second season with Boston. But when the Red Sox fell out of the pennant race, they dumped his contract on the Twins, who were headed to a Western Division title. Joining the team just in time to be eligible for the postseason, Baylor became a force during the World Series. He quietly hit .385 with a home run and three RBIs, as the Twins defeated the Cardinals in seven games.

Baylor wasn’t done with the postseason. Released by the cost-conscious Twins during the winter, he signed with the A’s, who made him a part-time DH. Baylor didn’t hit much during the regular season or the postseason, but he did make his third straight appearance in the World Series, all three coming with different teams. Appearing once as a pinch-hitter, he watched as his A’s stunningly lost to the overachieving Dodgers in four straight games.

Now 39 years old and coming off his worst season, Baylor realized the end had arrived. He opted to retire, ending a long 19-year playing career and leaving the game as its most prolific clay pigeon (244 hit-by-pitches). Baylor wore the latter honor like a badge of courage.

Known for his smarts and his leadership skills, Baylor remained in the game as a coach, first with the Brewers and then the Cardinals. In 1993, he became the first manager in the history of the Colorado Rockies. After two poor finishes with the expansion Rockies, he led the team to three consecutive seasons with better than .500 records. When the Rockies dipped to a record of 77-85 in 1998, Baylor feuded with general manager Bob Gebhard and ultimately lost his job.

Fresh off the firing, Baylor became the batting coach for the Braves. He did particularly good work with a young Chipper Jones, helping his star protégé improve as a right-handed hitter. The acclaim Baylor received as a hitting coach earned him new life as the manager of the Cubs, but the team struggled for much of his tenure of two and a half seasons. Baylor took criticisms for his handling of Cubs pitchers and was fired by the Cubs in the middle of the 2002 season.

A year later, Baylor received far worse news when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Known for his toughness, he has found a way to beat the disease and now serves as a major fundraiser in the fight against this form of cancer.

Baylor has not managed since his tenure with the Cubs, and probably won’t receive another chance because of his reputation with pitchers and his advancing age. But he remains well-respected for his ability to instruct young hitters; the Angels recently brought him back to the organization as their new batting coach under Mike Scioscia. They are hoping that he can help Josh Hamilton, who struggled during his first season with the Angels.

I guess that’s only appropriate. When one looks so good taking a swing on one of his Topps cards, it only makes sense that he should find work teaching young hitters to do exactly the same.


Bruce Markusen has authored seven baseball books, including biographies of Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Ted Williams, and A Baseball Dynasty: Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s, which was awarded SABR's Seymour Medal.
20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jim G.
10 years ago

Good job Bruce!
What is it about DH’s with atrocious arms that were scaring the middle infielders? (Baylor/McRae)

I wonder, after the ‘76 season, did the Orioles ever pursue Baylor as Jackson bolted to the Yankees? I looked it up and Baylor signed with the Angels about 2 weeks before Jackson did with the Yankees. We’re the Orioles thinking they were still in the running for Jackson? Did Baylor have any interest in returning to Baltimore? Or were the Orioles not wanting to spend big free agent money?
Would the Orioles have had a better chance of signing Baylor if they hadn’t traded him?
It seems like the Orioles got the short end of the stick on the trade. Although, Holtzman was a part of the package to the Yankees that got them Dempsey, Tippy and McGregor, so you can say they exacted some revenge on the Yankees for signing Jackson.

Carl
10 years ago

Great article as always Bruce.  Thank you very much.

In 1979, Don Baylor had 90 RBIs at the All Star break and the Angels were in first place.  That’s why he won the MVP that year despite a bad second half.

Also, ironic that Baylor and Jackson were teammates on the 1982 Angels that also won the AL West.

bucdaddy
10 years ago

Bruce,

Another good tale, well told, but I must disagree with you about this:

“whom Topps captured fantastically on his 1973 card.”

That photo, to me, looks a little fuzzy, blurred or something, and that also seems true to me of other photos in this series. Maybe Topps used a cheap printing process, or maybe the photos were taken from a mile away and blown up too much, or maybe cardboard is a bad photographic medium or something, but it’s hard for me to believe they couldn’t have found a crisper image, even with action shots. I’m also not impressed with a composition that cuts off most of his bat (and possibly his left big toe) to get the bat boy in the picture.

tim b
10 years ago

There was another Oriole card in this set (I think Bobby Grich), which was taken the same day, same fans in the background.

tim b
10 years ago

Actually I think it was Tom McCraw of the Indians

Richard Chen
10 years ago

Baylor starred in the best baseball game I’ve seen in person, July 14, 1979, against the Yanks. bbref says the Angels were down 6-2, when Baylor led off the bottom of the 8th with a homer off Gossage, then hit a 3-run homer with two outs in the 9th to tie the game 7-7. My memory says one of those went down the left field line into the small fair portion of the second deck.

Checking… Baylor wasn’t even in the top 10 in offensive WAR that year? Wow, I should probably shut up about Trout vs. Cabrera. If you can give up to 10 points for the hard-to-quantify stuff, Baylor gets 20. That was the “Yes we can” year, and he led that team, and, despite a decade of cr@p with weekday attendances commonly around 8k, they had us believing.

John
10 years ago

Out of curiosity, I checked Remy Hermoso’s game logs for ‘74 on BRef:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE197405110.shtml

That’s the game where he left with an injury & was out for much of the year.

But Baylor K’d looking, and went from 1st-to-3rd on a single in his other plate appearance before Hermoso left the game.

I’m sure there’s an explanation (probably in the Sporting News), but how did Baylor injure Hermoso with a take-out slide given the above?

Great post, as usual.

Carl
10 years ago

Can anyone explain what the blur on Baylor’s elbow is?  Is it simply a sweatband that rode up the arm a bit?  Is it Topps covering up a tattoo?  Is it a printing error?

Jim
10 years ago

According to Retrosheet, Hermoso made the last out of the third on a groundout-pitcher to first.  Then Brohamer came in to start the Orioles fourth.  But no mention why or how an injury may have happened.  I have a feeling it was on the ground out, trying to extend himself (hammy?).

Looking at the Sporting News’ 1975 Baseball Register, it says he was on the emergency disabled list from May 12 to August 22.

Looking at Hermoso’s 1974 starts, it appears Cleveland thought he was their best option at 2b.  His splits are interesting as his OBP and SLG are the same.  This was also his last year in the Majors.

Jim C.
10 years ago

Jim G.:  In 1976, the Orioles were owned by Jerry Hoffberger.  Hoffberger was a successful businessman, but he had nowhere near the financial resources necessary to compete for marquee free agents.  It was not until 1979, when the O’s were sold to Washington lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, that they really began to penetrate the DC market and generate the big revenue stream.  And they had a big crop of FA’s of their own who they lost in the 1976-77 off-season, including Jackson, Grich and SP Wayne Garland.  So no, I don’t think they had any notion of pursuing Baylor that year.

My favorite Baylor quote:  when asked which of his 244 HBPs hurt the most, he said “None of them.”

Jim
10 years ago

Jim C:  I appreciate this bit of Orioles history.  I move to DC in 1977 and missed the beginning of the end.  This fills in my history.

I always got a kick out of EBW who couldn’t understand how you could be successful and still lose 62 times a year.

dennis Bedard
10 years ago

Great article Bruce.  I always looked upon Baylor as a sure fire HOF’er who did not live up to his potential.  That is probably unfair but I remember the expectations of him back in the early 70’s.  The O’s really did believe they found another Frank Robinson.  I put Cesar Cedeno in the same category.  For what it is worth, the O’s also thought they discovered another Jim Palmer when they signed Doyle Alexander.  It was not to be.

Jim
10 years ago

Nice story.  I wish he was still the manager of the Rockies.

Paul
10 years ago

Baylor was part of the very successful outfield platoon that took the Orioles back to the playoffs in 1973. Baylor and Rettenmund started against lefties, while rookie sensations Al Bumbry and Rich Coggins started against righties. Paul Blair pretty much played every day.

Cliff Blau
10 years ago

The PBP for the May 11 game when Hermoso was hurt is slightly in error.  The injury occurred in the fifth inning, Baylor breaking up a potential DP on Brooks Robinson’s grounder.

Dean Travers
10 years ago

How can you say Baylor was so much better than Easler in ‘86?  Baylor hit .238 w/1.3 WAR; Easler hit over .300, had a higher slg% and 1.6 WAR.

scott
10 years ago

The Cleveland Plain Dealer of 5/12/74 says “Hermoso suffered cartilage damage in his left knee when he was hit hard by Don Baylor, who slid into the second baseman on a double play attempt in the fifth inning.  Baylor flew into Hermoso just as Angel was crossing the bag and relaying a throw from Frank Duffy.  Hermoso went down in a heap, hardly moving for several minutes.”  Hermoso underwent surgery the next day.

Philip
10 years ago

Good article, Bruce, on an under-rated player from that era.

Don Baylor’s role in the Red Sox comeback against the Angels in 1985 is often overlooked.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the 9th inning and down 3-1 in the ALCS facing elimination, it was Baylor who hit a two-run homerun to pull Boston within one. Dave Henderson’s two-run homer later in the inning would give Boston a brief lead.

Then, with the game tied at 6-6 in extra innings, Baylor led off the 11th being hit by a pitch, something with his plate-crowding stance that wasn’t unusual at all. Henderson’s sacrifice fly would give Boston a 7-6 lead which they held on to win, setting the stage for the Red Sox comeback to win the pennant with their wins in game 6 and 7 back in Boston. In those final 3 wins of the series, Baylor went 4 for 12, with 5 runs scored and 2 RBIs and that one very important clutch homerun.

Philip
10 years ago

typo… “1986 ALCS”

mike
10 years ago

Pretty sure the ’88 World Series was won by the A’s 4-1, not 4-0.