Since boyhood, Phillies’ Tony Taylor holds a place of honor in the bishop’s heart, office
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Chris Price
In his office at the St. John Center in Little Rock Feb. 11, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor stands in front of a rack of baseball cards featuring Antonio “Tony” Taylor, an infielder who played 19 Major League Baseball seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers from 1958 through 1976. As a boy, the bishop took a liking to the player simply due to “the coincidence that we have the same name.”
Baseball is in the air at college campuses across the nation, and the same can be said for the campus of St. John Center.
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor’s office is decorated with religious art as expected of the occupant, but one, surprising adornment from his childhood has a place of honor, too.
The bishop has a rack of baseball cards featuring Antonio “Tony” Taylor, an infielder who played 19 Major League Baseball seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers from 1958 to 1976.
“When I was a little kid, my family and friends called me ‘Tony,’” the bishop said. “One of my grandfathers pointed out to me that there was a baseball player with that same name. He was playing for the Phillies at the time. There was hardly any coverage of the Phillies in our area. So, it’s not like I was able to really follow him, but my grandfather got me a mitt that Tony Taylor had signed.”
“Sometimes we’d sit on the back porch and listen to games, but I can’t say that I really followed them. I was always in Scouts and was more interested in the outdoors, camping and things like that.”
Bishop Taylor was born in Fort Worth in 1954, and his family had relocated to Ponca City, Okla., when he was 6. One would think that Mickey Mantle, the “Oklahoma Kid,” who was the New York Yankees star from 1951-1968, would have been the future bishop’s baseball hero, but he said his interest in Taylor the ballplayer was due to “the coincidence that we have the same name.”
Bishop Taylor said St. Louis Cardinals games were broadcast on Ponca City’s local radio station.
“Sometimes we’d sit on the back porch and listen to games, but I can’t say that I really followed them. I was always in Scouts and was more interested in the outdoors, camping and things like that.”
In fact, the bishop said he never played organized baseball.
“My brothers were much more into sports than I was,” he said. “I just thought it was really cool that there was a Major League ballplayer that had the same name as me. That was one thing that none of my brothers or sisters had, a major sports figure with their same name. I didn’t see him play very often. In fact, the last time I saw him play, he hit into a double play.”
According to the Society for American Baseball Research, Taylor, son of an American father and Chinese mother, was born in Central Alava, Cuba in 1935. In 1954, at age 18, he signed a free agent contract with the New York Giants and played in their farm system, including the Texas League — home of the AA Arkansas Travelers — until the Cubs picked him up and promoted him to the major leagues in 1958.
During his time in the Windy City, he befriended and was roommates with superstar Ernie Banks. Cubs coach Rogers Hornsby, one of professional baseball’s first iconic players, described Taylor as “the muscular Cuban, who has forearms like Popeye.”
Chicago traded Taylor to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960, where he was twice selected as an All-Star. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers midway through the 1971 season and played two seasons in the Motor City before re-signing with Philly, where he played until the end of the 1976 season.
A 1974 Associated Press article said, “Regardless of the score or the standings, Taylor would come to bat, cross himself, kiss the tip of his bat in his inimitable style and give any pitcher a tough out.”
Known as a strong base runner and stealer and solid defensive second baseman, he posted a career .261 batting average with 75 home runs, 598 runs batted in and 234 stolen bases in 2,195 games.
Immediately after his playing career, he served as a coach with the Phillies and later the San Francisco Giants and Florida Marlins. Although he didn’t make the World Series as a player, he won three — 1980 with the Phillies and 1997 and 2003 with the Marlins — as a coach.
Taylor has been inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, the Phillies’ Wall of Fame and the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. He suffered a series of strokes in August 2019 and died in July 2020 at the age of 84.
Taylor, a devout Catholic, is remembered as a hardworking player who gave his all.
“I was raised in a devout home, and I do remember that I was impressed that he would make the sign of the cross when he came up to bat,” the bishop said. “I always wished that I had gotten in contact with him just to say, ‘Hi, you know, we’ve got the same name.”
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