Chicago Cubs: Former big league skipper Don Baylor passes away at 68

Former Chicago Cubs manager Don Baylor passed away Monday at the age of 68. He spent decades in the dugout, following a respectable playing career.

For my generation, Don Baylor is known as a manager and big-league coach. More specifically here in the Windy City, he’s remembered as the former skipper of the Chicago Cubs.

But, make no mistake. Baylor put together an impressive playing career long before he worked his way to the role of manager. A second-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 1967, he made his debut a few years later in 1970.

It wasn’t until he joined the then-California Angels that he really blossomed as a big leaguer. From 1977 to 1982, Baylor put up some impressive 162-game averages: 28 home runs, 104 RBI and a .262/.337/.448 slash-line. In 1979, he won the American League MVP, smacking a career-high 36 homers and driving in 139 runs.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs should keep close eye on non-tender candidate Cody Bellinger
• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups

One of his more prominent moments came nearly a decade later as a member of the Minnesota Twins, as recalled by MLBTR.

"He’d go on to collect seven hits in 18 at-bats during the playoffs that season, including a game-tying two-run homer in Game 6 of the World Series. Minnesota would rally  for six more runs following that key hit, and the Twins ultimately rode that momentum to a Game 7 victory and a World Series championship."

From playing to managing

In 1993, the Colorado Rockies named Baylor the first manager in franchise history. Over six years in the Mile High City, he accumulated a 440-469 record at the helm. He then joined the Chicago Cubs as their skipper ahead of the 2000 season.

It wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows in the Windy City. The Cubs lost 97 games in his first year in Chicago, but the club rebounded in 2001, going 88-74. That season marked the best record any of Baylor’s clubs in his managerial career.

But things trended downward again in 2002, and, in early July, the Cubs fired Baylor with more than a year left on his deal. Bruce Kimm assumed the role of manager – and that was the last time Don Baylor managed a big-league team.

Next: Cubs have a major problem in Edwards' struggles

He went on to hold various coaching roles with several franchises: the Mets, Mariners, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Angels.