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Baylor reportedly is feeling better after losing consciousness at Miller Park shortly after eating breakfast Friday morning. Arizona GM Kevin Towers said Baylor stood up, apparently felt light-headed and began to fall, but was caught by one of the team's trainers.
After the media was cleared from the clubhouse, Baylor was seen being wheeled out via stretcher by paramedics, who took him to an area hospital for tests — which he reportedly has been passing. Doctors will keep him overnight for observation, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has reported.
Towers said Baylor, 62, was fine when the team's staff got together for dinner here Thursday night, and coaches told him Baylor was OK before breakfast.
It would be unnerving for the D-backs to be without Baylor at any point during the season, but the worry naturally gets amplified during the playoffs. Towers said the team was thinking about him Friday afternoon during a workout at Miller Park:
"Getting ready for postseason play, and one of the coaches who's been here all year long has a fainting episode like that, it kind of throws you off a little bit," Towers said. "We got our fingers crossed, and (we're saying) our prayers, that everything will turn out well.
"Anytime somebody faints, loses consciousness for a while, it's scary. He's a big part of this ballclub and he means a lot to these players. Hopefully ... he's in uniform tomorrow, helping us win a ballgame."
Baylor is a tough guy who's had his share of health problems, most notably in 2003 when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. Although the disease is not curable, Baylor has recovered from it because of a stem cell transplant.
When he played, Baylor was noted for his power and his ability to get hit by pitches. He holds the major league record with 267. He's a guy who knows how to bounce back.
But, if Arizona needs to, Towers said the team would promote someone from the organization on an interim basis to help for Game 1 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Alan Cockrell is the team's minor league hitting coordinator. Coaches Matt Williams and Alan Trammell also could share some of Baylor's duties.
"We certainly would like to have Don here and, hopefully, he's much better this evening," Towers said. "If not, we're talking about bringing somebody up from our system in case he's not able to be active for us tomorrow."
The best sign he was feeling better might have come via manager Kirk Gibson, who said Baylor must be improving because he was angry that he missed a post-workout meeting.
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