Lest we forget: Don Baylor and Darren Daulton (UPDATE)

The baseball world lost two alumni recently with the passings of Don Baylor and Darren Daulton, both succumbing to the ravages of cancer.

Baylor, a fierce and fearsome batter who hit 338 home runs and drove in 1,276 runs in a 19-year career (Angels, Orioles, Yankees, Red Sox, As, and Twins), died early this morning. He was also fearless,  crowding the plate and setting the record for most times hit by a pitch (267), a mark later broken by Craig Biggio.

Baylor — who won the AL MVP award in 1979 — was also a manager for nine seasons, leading the Colorado Rockies (1993-98) to their first playoff berth in 1995, a season shortened by the remnants of the 1994 strike. He also skippered the Chicago Cubs from 2000 into the 2002 season.

He collaborated with Claire Smith, the most recent Spink Award winner, on Nothing But the Truth: A Baseball Life in 1989.

Here’s his obituary from Boston.com. No doubt the Times and other New York Papers will print something very shortly.

UPDATE: Sure enough, here’s the piece from the Aug. 8 Times, written by Richard Sandomir, the former sports media columnist who now works at the obituary desk (and authored the new book about the making of the film The Pride of the Yankees). And this one in the NY Daily News from Bill Madden. And this from the NY Post.

Daulton, who lost his years-long battle with brain cancer on Sunday, was a leader of the fightin’ Phillies teams on the early to mid-1990s, leading them to the World Series in 1993. Tyler Kepner contributed this piece to the Times. Daulton, who spent all but 52 games in his 13-year career with Philadelphia, published his memoirs, If They Only Knew, in 2007.

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Tagged as: Darren Daulton, Don Baylor