Don Baylor was one of the toughest guys on and off the baseball diamond, during his nineteen year Major League Career.  Groove, as he was known when he was with the California Angels, started with the Baltimore Orioles in 1970, and ended with the Oakland A's in 1988.

Baylor won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1979, with the Angels, mainly as their designated hitter, leading the Halos to their first American League West Division Championship, much to the delight of then owner, Gene Autry, with whom Baylor had a special relationship.  

The Austin, Texas native went on to manage the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs, but never got to manage his beloved Angels, even though he was on the coaching staff twice, including 2014, when his right femur fractured while kneeling down to catch the ceremonial Opening Day First Pitch from Vladimir Guerrero.  Living with brittle bones caused by multiple myeloma most likely contributed to that fracture.  Baylor passed away from complications of multiple myeloma on August 17, 2017 at age 68.

Multiple Myeloma is a terrible cancer that attacks the bone marrow, bone and blood.  My wife, Diane, battled it for eight years, and died in 2012 at 59. 

To find out more about multiple myeloma, contact either The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation at www.themmrf.org or The International Myeloma Foundation at www.myeloma.org or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at www.lls.org