Blue Jays Mourn the Loss of Longtime Team Doctor and Former Pitcher Ron Taylor
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The Toronto Blue Jays released a statement regarding their long-time team doctor Ron Taylor. Unfortunately the former MLB pitcher passed away at 87 years old. He impacted the game as both a pitcher and a doctor and contributed to the wins of multiple world championships.
Taylor’s career in professional baseball started all the way back in 1956 with the Cleveland organization per Baseball-Reference. Six years after being drafted he had his debut on the mound at the world famous Fenway Park. To start his career he went a solid 11 scoreless innings. It would not be a Cinderella tale though as he allowed a walk-off grand slam in the 12th.
By the end of his rookie year he was traded to the Saint Louis Cardinals where he was used in a relief position and had a solid 2.84 ERA in over 133 innings according to MLB Trade Rumors. In his first World Series debut (against the Yankees) he had nearly four scoreless innings which contributed to his first championship.
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Throughout his 11 seasons as a pitcher he recorded 464 strikeouts in 800 innings (during the regular season). After his career as a player was over in 1972 he immediately went to medical school.
The unsung hero in professional sports is the team physician. Taylor wanted to stay in the game of baseball and instead of pursuing a role as a coach or scout, like most do, he went home to Toronto to be their team doctor.
The Blue Jays had back-to-back world championships during his tenure (1992 and 1993). The team said he was known to many as “Dr. Baseball”.
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Ron Taylor made a difference to the teams he was a part of in multiple roles. He will be missed and we offer our condolences to all of his loved ones.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.