Don Baylor, the 1979 American League MVP with the California Angels who later became manager of the year for the Colorado Rockies in 1995, died Monday at age 68 after a cancer battle more than a decade long.
Baylor died in Austin, Texas, which was his hometown, after a 14-year battle with multiple myeloma.
“Don passed from this earth with the same fierce dignity with which he played the game and lived his life,” Baylor’s wife Rebecca said, NBC News reported.
Baylor played Major League Baseball a total of 19 years for the Angels, A’s, Yankees, Twins and Red Sox. He had healthy statistics in RBIs, runs, and hits during the 1979 season, in which he played all 162 games and helped the Angels win the American League West title.
He also held the record for being hit by a pitch when he retired from baseball: 267 times.
After retirement, Baylor became the first manager of the expansion Rockies, and led them to the playoffs in their third season. He also managed the Cubs in the early 2000s, and most recently served as the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels.
Baylor spent nearly 50 years in pro baseball between playing, managing, and coaching. He was known as a gentleman on and off the field, and he also helped the Major League Baseball Players Association become an established players’ union.
Twitter users expressed their sorrow over his loss.