Ozzie Smith

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Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith

"The Wizard of Oz"

Inducted as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals (1)

Year Inducted: 2002

First Year Elligible: 2002

Ozzie Smith (born Osborne Earl Smith on December 26, 1954 in Mobile, Alabama), is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball, a 13-time Gold Glove Award winner who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. 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."

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.

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 leadoff hitter Vince Coleman to steal more than 100 bases. 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.^[1]

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, including [1] this famous picture of him doing a back flip during a moment of elation.

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 seen^{[citation needed]}.

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.

[edit] At odds with current management

Following his retirement from baseball, Smith has refused to associate himself with the Cardinals, although he continues to make public appearances and embraces the franchise. Smith has stated that he will not work with the franchise as long as the current management is in charge. It is speculated that Smith is still upset at current Cardinal manager Tony La Russa for the 1996 acquisition of shortstop Royce Clayton from the San Francisco Giants. Smith's playing time shrank, and he retired at season's end.^[2]

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

• Featured Athlete on Fox Sports Net's Beyond the Glory

[edit] External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Ozzie's Restaurant & Sports Bar in St. Louis
• St. Louis Walk of Fame

[edit] References

1. ^ 1988 National League Leader Boards
2. ^ Ten years later, Ozzie Smith, La Russa still feuding