ST KILDA premiership hero and official AFL Hall of Fame Legend Darrel 'Doc' Baldock has died.
Baldock passed away on Wednesday after a recent stroke, his fourth in total.
The 72-year-old spent the last few days of his life at the Mersey Community Hospital in Latrobe, Tasmania.
Former teammates rushed to his bedside in recent days to bid farewell to the 1966 premiership captain.
Baldock will forever be remembered as one of the biggest names in St Kilda's history.
In just 119 games in seven years from 1962 to 1968, he consolidated himself as a legend of the club.
Baldock won the Saints' best and fairest three times and was the leading goalkicker for four consecutive years.
Most famously, he captained the Saints to their only premiership, over Collingwood, in 1966.
He arrived at the Saints with a reputation as a star for Tasmanian club Latrobe and made his debut at 24 years of age after previously signing for Melbourne and South Melbourne.
In just his second year, he was appointed St Kilda captain, a role he held until he retired to return to Tasmania at the end of 1968.
Baldock's appointment as captain coincided with the arrival at St Kilda of fellow Tasmanian Ian Stewart. The pair developed a unique understanding of each other's games and quickly became one of the most potent combinations in the VFL.
Years later Baldock revealed he and Stewart never discussed strategies, rather relying on instinct and natural skill.
"There were no tactics. Timing was the most important thing because of my height. The ball had to come down quickly and providing the ball was kicked out in front I was right," Baldock said in the book Heroes With Haloes, St Kilda's 100 Greatest.
"That was a specialty of Stewie because he was such a magnificent kick of the ball. He'd look up and I was halfway there. The greatest asset I had was reading the ball upfield."
He held down the difficult centre half-forward role despite standing at just 179cm.
After returning to Tasmania at the end of his playing days, Baldock became a Member of Parliament. He was also a successful racehorse owner and trainer.
In 1987 he resigned from the parliament to return to the mainland to take over the coaching reigns at his beloved Saints.
He suffered his first stroke towards the end of the season and had to hand over the reins to assistant Allan Davis for the last four games of the season.
