Samuel Douglas Taylor (February 27, 1933 – October 8, 2019) was an American professional baseball player, a Major League catcher who appeared in 473 games over six seasons from 1958 to 1963 for the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians.

[1] Born in Woodruff, South Carolina, he left-handed-batting Taylor was listed as 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).

After graduating from Woodruff High School, Taylor played one season (1950) in the Class D North Carolina State League.

[2] Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as a 23-year-old free agent in 1956, Taylor spent two full years in the Braves' farm system, then was traded with pitcher Taylor Phillips to the Cubs for outfielder Eddie Haas and pitchers Don Kaiser and Bob Rush on December 5, 1957.

Taylor was involved in a rather peculiar situation in a game on June 30 of that year, between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.

Pitcher Bob Anderson's next pitch was errant, evading Taylor and rolling all the way to the backstop.

The ball wound up in the hands of field announcer Pat Pieper, but Dark ended up getting it back anyway.

Musial, though, did not see Dark's throw and only noticed Anderson's ball fly over the second baseman's head, so he tried to go to third base.