One of the saddest moments of the season was Angels hitting coach Don Baylor fracturing his femur while catching Vladimir Guerrero’s ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day.
It was a gruesome injury and only now, nearly three months later, is Baylor ready to return to work. He was back in the Angels’ dugout as their full-time hitting coach last night and Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports that “no restrictions were placed on Baylor.”
Well, except for one little thing:
They told me to stay out of fights--the doctor said don’t be charging anyone. I told him, “I can’t really promise you that.”
In his absence assistant hitting coach Dave Hansen took on the primary gig and the Angels are third among AL teams in runs scored and OPS. And the 64-year-old Baylor spent his time off text messaging with players, which he’d never really done before.
