Don Baylor earned points with Cubs officials even before they named him the 46th manager in franchise history on Nov. 1, 1999.
After accepting the job he jokingly thanked the Cubs staffer who posted his bio on the team’s Web site before he was even offered the job.
But in his final week on the job, Baylor wasn’t as pleased with media speculation that had him being fired.
“I don’t know what you [reporters] are looking for,” he said, “running to [general manager Andy MacPhail] and back and forth.”
A look at the highs at lows of Baylor’s 2 1/2-year tenure.
Nov. 1, 1999: As the new sheriff in town, Baylor comes in with a four-year, $5.2 million contract and a self-described “no-nonsense” attitude.
He promises an aggressive offensive style to stay out of double plays, says he’ll push Sammy Sosa to steal more bases and improve his defense and pledges to eliminate clubhouse distractions such as agents and loud music.
Sosa’s response? “That’s good. But we can’t worry about little things. The reason we lost 95 games was not because of the way we wore our hats or because there were a lot of people in the clubhouse.”
March 29, 2000: The Cubs make Baylor a winner in his first game with a 5-3 victory over the Mets in Tokyo. Mets manager Bobby Valentine plays under protest after Baylor accidentally leaves reserve Jeff Huson’s name off the lineup card.
March 30, 2000: Baylor calls Valentine’s decision to play the game under protest “nonsense” and adds, “People who cheat, they’re always pointing at somebody else.”
Valentine responds, “Why doesn’t he just admit he made a mistake? That’s what’s nonsense.”
June 6, 2000: Sosa, after reading an unattributed comment about him–“He might drive in 150 runs, but he’ll let in 45”–rips Baylor. He says of his manager: “He hasn’t really treated me the way I’m supposed to be treated. … He’s got no class.”
Baylor takes a conciliatory tone and the two make up a day later.
“There will be no more problems,” Sosa says. “We agreed man-to-man, one-to-one, like father, like son, we had to put an end to this.”
Sept. 20, 2000: Frustrated over an eventual 97-loss season, Baylor looks to the future. In his typically blunt style, he says of Kyle Farnsworth, “If he starts the season as the closer, we haven’t done [anything] in the off-season.”
Feb. 14, 2001: Baylor, noting that six players missed time in 2000 because of hamstring injuries alone, brings in conditioning and motivational guru Mack Newton. Some players balk at Newton’s 90-minute stretching sessions.
July 31, 2001: Baylor’s Cubs beat San Diego to improve to a season-high 19 games over .500. With first baseman Fred McGriff now in the lineup, the Cubs are practically printing playoff tickets.
Oct. 5, 2001: A day after the abrupt resignation of pitching coach Oscar Acosta, Kevin Tapani and Kerry Wood criticize Baylor.
Tapani says, “I think the question for Don is: `Are you so bull-headed that you’re going to continue to force [Newton] on us knowing it’s not working?'”
March 7, 2002: The injury bug claims Tom Gordon, who tears a muscle near his right shoulder. Injuries to Bill Mueller, Farnsworth, Moises Alou and Alex Gonzalez result in a 13-27 start.
May 17, 2002: Baylor gets a vote of confidence from MacPhail, who tells him, “I have no intention of making a change anytime in the near future.”
July 2, 2002: With speculation mounting about his future, Baylor defiantly tells a Miami radio station: “Andy MacPhail is the president and general manager. If he wants to make a change, make a change.”
July 5, 2002: MacPhail dismisses Baylor, saying, “We all failed.”
