#504 Gene Lamont and Don Baylor

About the Front: Don Baylor looks like he could have still been some American League team's DH at age 44...and to be fair, he'd just finished his playing career five years earlier with the A's. Gene Lamont, on the other hand, is a few years older and looks like your high school biology teacher.

About the Back: It's cool to see the random trivia about the Rockies. As you probably know, they moved from Mile High Stadium (the longtime home of the NFL's Broncos) to Coors Field in 1995. Can you imagine a baseball team today playing in a 76,000-seat football stadium?

Triple Play:

1. Gene Lamont was a first-round draft pick of the Tigers in 1965 as a high school catcher. He played parts of five big league seasons with Detroit (1970-1972, 1974-1975), but totaled only 87 games with a .233/.278/.371 batting line. He managed the White Sox from 1992 through early 1995, then helmed the Pirates from 1997 through 2000. He had a record of 553-562 (.496). Gene also spent over 20 years as a big league coach, most of them under Jim Leyland. He's currently a special assistant to Royals' GM Dayton Moore.

2. Don Baylor had a long and accomplished playing career with the Orioles, Athletics, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox, and Twins, spanning from 1970 through 1988. He was the American League MVP in 1979, when he batted .296/.371/.530 with 36 home runs and league-leading totals of 120 runs scored and 139 RBI for the West Division Champion Angels. Overall, he had a career stat line of .260/.342/.436 (118 OPS+), 338 homers, and 1,276 RBI. Of course, he also led the AL in times hit by pitch in eight different seasons, and held the post-1900 career record by being plunked 267 times, until Craig Biggio passed him in 2005.

3. Baylor lasted six seasons as the Rockies' first manager, leading them to the National League Wild Card in 1995. He was also the skipper of the Cubs from 2000 to midseason 2002. Overall, he had a managerial record of 627-689 (.476). He served as a hitting coach for several teams, most recently the Angels (2014-2015). Unfortunately, he passed away at age 68 last August after battling multiple myeloma.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I probably would've been surprised if you'd told me that the White Sox would fire Gene Lamont a month into the 1995 season. They were two wins away from the World Series in 1993, and were on track to become the first-ever AL Central Champions when the strike hit in 1994. What have you done for me lately, right?

On This Date in 1993: March 15. Michael Fulmer is born. In 2016, he will pitch his way to AL Rookie of the Year honors for the Tigers (11-7, 3.06 ERA, 139 ERA+).