Ozzie Smith

Full Name: Osborne Earl Smith	Primary Position: SS
Height/Weight: 5' 11"/150	First Game: April 7, 1978
Birthdate: December 26, 1954	Final Game: September 29, 1996
Birthplace: Mobile, Alabama	MLB Experience: 19 years
Bat/Throw: Both/Right

Biography[]

Ozzie Smith (Osborne Earl Smith) was born on December 26, 1954 in Mobile, Alabama. He made his Major League debut on April 7, 1978 for the San Diego Padres. In 1978, his rookie year, he hit .258 with 1 home run and 46 RBI. Smith played for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals over the course of his 19 year career.

Most people believe that Ozzie Smith's best season was 1987, when he stole 43 bases, hit for a .303 average and knocked in 75 runs.

In 2003, he was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. He is widely cited as the greatest defensive player of all time, and carried the nickname "The Wizard of Oz."

Career[]

Ozzie went to Locke High School in South Los Angeles where he played baseball with Eddie Murray. Smith was first selected in the amateur entry draft in 1976, when he was drafted in the 7th round by the Detroit Tigers. However, Smith and the Tigers were unable to agree on contract parameters, and he went back into the draft pool the following season, where he was drafted in the 4th round by the San Diego Padres. After only one season in the minor leagues with low-level Walla Walla, Smith broke in with the Padres in 1978 at the age of 23. He would spend 4 seasons with the Padres before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982. He promptly led the team to the World Series, where the Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers four games to three. The team reached the World Series again in 1985, thanks in large part to Smith's game-winning home run in the NLCS against Tom Niedenfuer of the Los Angeles Dodgers. This homer was made famous for its radio call by broadcaster Jack Buck: "Smith corks one into right, down the line! It may go! [home run lands] Go crazy folks, go crazy!" They went on to lose the World Series to the Kansas City Royals in seven games. They also lost the 1987 World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games in an unusual series where each team won games only in their own home stadium. A weak hitter early in his career, Smith never developed much power at the plate, but his hitting improved over the years, and his speed allowed him to serve as a competent leadoff hitter. Smith stole 580 career bases, 20th on the all-time list. But his most potent asset were his glove and his defensive reflexes, with which he often won more ball games than the hitters on his team did. Former manager Whitey Herzog claimed that at his peak Smith saved 75 runs per year with his glove.^[1]

He is perhaps best known for his time playing for manager Whitey Herzog where players were known for being scrappy, continually pushing singles to doubles (and doubles to triples), stealing bases, playing aggressively, and continually pushing the opposing teams to catch them in the act. This management and play style has been dubbed "Whiteyball." Even though he wasn't a slugger, his speed was an excellent match to this playing style, which ultimately lead to their 1982 World Series victory and their 1985 National League Pennant.

Smith's greatest season came in 1987, when he had a .303 batting average, 43 stolen bases, 75 RBIs, 104 runs scored, and 40 doubles. Smith mostly batted second in the lineup; his plate discipline allowed him to post a career high on-base percentage of .392. This performance helped the Cardinals get into the playoffs. Smith ended up second in the MVP balloting to Andre Dawson, who had played on the last-placed Chicago Cubs, largely because he and fellow Cardinal Jack Clark split the first-place vote.

Following the 1987 season, Ozzie was awarded the largest contract in the National League at $2,340,000.^[2]

Smith is only the 37th of the 252 players elected to the Hall of Fame to be so honored in his first year of eligibility.

In 1999, he ranked Number 87 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Ozzie Smith is remembered for his acrobatics in the field as a versatile shortstop and for the ritual backflip he performed before opening days, All-Star Games, and postseason games. Though he dropped this routine late in his career, he reprised it for "Ozzie Day" on September 28, 1996, when the Cardinals honored his impending retirement with a ceremony before the game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Many say he made the greatest play of all time in his rookie season with the Padres in 1978. After Atlanta's Jeff Burroughs hit a grounder up the middle, Smith dove to his left. But the ball hit a stone in the dirt and took a crazy bounce in the opposite direction. Quickly, Smith reached up with his bare right hand. In one motion, he ripped the ball out of the air, sprang up, and threw Burroughs out at first base. Smith himself called it "the toughest play I've ever had," and in an informal survey of big leaguers, most mentioned this play as the most amazing they have ever seenTemplate:Fact.

Shortly after his playing days were over, Smith took over for the late Mel Allen as the host of the long-running TV series This Week in Baseball.

At odds with current management[]

Following his retirement from baseball, Smith has refused to associate himself with the Cardinals in any official capacity, although he continues to make public appearances embracing the franchise. Smith has stated that he will not work with the organization as long as the current management is in charge. Smith has said he is still upset at current Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa for making newly acquired Royce Clayton the starting shortstop in 1996, despite a superior offensive performance by Smith in spring training. The Cardinals had traded for Clayton during the previous offseason as a precautionary move in case Smith did not fully recover from an earlier injury. Smith's playing time shrank under LaRussa's management, and he retired at season's end. Incidentally, the Cardinals traded Clayton less than two years after Smith's retirement.^[3]

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1978	SD	N	159	590	69	152	1	46	.258	.311	.312	17	6	47	43	0	28	40	0	11
1979	SD	N	156	587	77	124	0	27	.211	.260	.262	18	6	37	37	2	22	28	5	11
1980	SD	N	158	609	67	140	0	35	.230	.313	.276	18	5	71	49	5	23	57	1	9
1981	SD	N	110	450	53	100	0	21	.222	.294	.256	11	2	41	37	5	10	22	1	8
1982	STL	N	140	488	58	121	2	43	.248	.339	.314	24	1	68	32	2	4	25	12	10
1983	STL	N	159	552	69	134	3	50	.243	.321	.335	30	6	64	36	1	7	34	9	10
1984	STL	N	124	412	53	106	1	44	.257	.347	.337	20	5	56	17	2	11	35	5	8
1985	STL	N	158	537	70	148	6	54	.276	.355	.361	22	3	65	27	2	9	31	11	13
1986	STL	N	153	514	67	144	0	54	.280	.376	.333	19	4	79	27	2	11	31	13	9
1987	STL	N	158	600	104	182	0	75	.303	.392	.383	40	4	89	36	1	12	43	3	9
1988	STL	N	153	575	80	155	3	51	.270	.350	.336	27	1	74	43	1	12	57	2	7
1989	STL	N	155	593	82	162	2	50	.273	.335	.361	30	8	55	37	2	11	29	3	10
1990	STL	N	143	512	61	130	1	50	.254	.330	.305	21	1	61	33	2	7	32	4	8
1991	STL	N	150	550	96	157	3	50	.285	.380	.367	30	3	83	36	1	6	35	2	8
1992	STL	N	132	518	73	153	0	31	.295	.367	.342	20	2	59	34	0	12	43	4	11
1993	STL	N	141	545	75	157	1	53	.288	.337	.356	22	6	43	18	1	7	21	1	11
1994	STL	N	98	381	51	100	3	30	.262	.326	.349	18	3	38	26	0	10	6	3	3
1995	STL	N	44	156	16	31	0	11	.199	.282	.244	5	1	17	12	2	5	4	0	6
1996	STL	N	82	227	36	64	2	18	.282	.358	.370	10	2	25	9	2	7	7	0	5
Total			2573	9396	1257	2460	28	793	.262	.337	.328	402	69	1072	589	33	214	580	79	167

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	TP	AVG
1978	SD	N	SS	159	154	1327	264	548	25	98	0	.970
1979	SD	N	SS	155	153	1339	256	555	20	86	0	.976
1980	SD	N	SS	158	157	1398.1	288	621	24	113	0	.974
1981	SD	N	SS	110	110	986.1	220	422	16	72	0	.976
1982	STL	N	SS	139	139	1249	279	535	13	101	0	.984
1983	STL	N	SS	158	154	1343.2	304	519	21	100	1	.975
1984	STL	N	SS	124	124	1065.1	233	437	12	94	0	.982
1985	STL	N	SS	158	158	1407	264	549	14	111	0	.983
1986	STL	N	SS	144	144	1287	229	453	15	96	0	.978
1987	STL	N	SS	158	153	1357.1	245	516	10	111	0	.987
1988	STL	N	SS	150	150	1329	234	519	22	79	0	.972
1989	STL	N	SS	153	152	1336.1	209	483	17	73	0	.976
1990	STL	N	SS	140	137	1203.1	212	378	12	66	0	.980
1991	STL	N	SS	150	148	1253.1	244	387	8	79	0	.987
1992	STL	N	SS	132	128	1156.1	232	420	10	82	0	.985
1993	STL	N	SS	134	131	1139.1	251	451	19	98	1	.974
1994	STL	N	SS	96	94	822	135	291	8	67	0	.982
1995	STL	N	SS	41	41	343.1	60	129	7	28	0	.964
1996	STL	N	SS	52	50	442.2	90	162	8	36	0	.969
Total			SS	2511	2477	21785.2	4249	8375	281	1590	2	.978

Transactions[]

Selected by Detroit Tigers in the 7th round of the free-agent draft - did not sign (June 8, 1976).
Selected by San Diego Padres in the 4th round of the free-agent draft (June 7, 1977).
Traded by San Diego Padres with Steve Mura and a player to be named later to St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Sixto Lezcano, Garry Templeton and a player to be named later (December 10, 1981); St. Louis Cardinals received Al Olmsted (February 19, 1982) and San Diego Padres received Luis DeLeon (February 19, 1982).
Granted free agency (November 2, 1992).
Signed by St. Louis Cardinals (December 6, 1992).

Trivia[]

His son, Nikko Smith, was a contestant on the popular American television series American Idol in the spring of 2005. He was eliminated from the show on the April 6 episode. Nikko sang the Star Spangled Banner to open the 4th game of baseball's 2006 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Another son, Dustin Smith, plays college baseball in Belleville, Illinois for the Blue Storm.

Voiced himself in the 1992 episode of The Simpsons, "Homer at the Bat". He ends up lost in Springfield's Mystery Spot in which, in the Springfield world, he is believed dead.

Is the hero of fictional detective, Jesse Stone, a character in the stone series by Robert B. Parker.

Played his namesake, The Wizzard of Oz, in a production of the musical at the outdoor Muny theater in St. Louis during the late 90's.

References[]

[1] Baseball Library Entry

[2] 1988 National League Leader Boards

[3] Ten years later, Ozzie Smith, La Russa still feuding

[1]

[2]

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