Carl Reginald Smith (born April 2, 1945) is a former
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
outfielderOutfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
, coach and front office executive. During a 17-year big league career (1966-1982), Smith appeared in 1,987 games, hit 314
home runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring runs for himself and each runner who was already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play...
s and
battedBatting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively. The two statistics are related, in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages....
.287. He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed. In his prime, he had one of the strongest throwing arms of any outfielder in the big leagues. Smith played at least 70 games in 13 different seasons, and in every one of those 13 seasons, his team had a winning record.
Smith grew up in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
.
Carl Reginald Smith (born April 2, 1945) is a former
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
outfielderOutfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
, coach and front office executive. During a 17-year big league career (1966-1982), Smith appeared in 1,987 games, hit 314
home runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring runs for himself and each runner who was already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play...
s and
battedBatting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively. The two statistics are related, in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages....
.287. He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed. In his prime, he had one of the strongest throwing arms of any outfielder in the big leagues. Smith played at least 70 games in 13 different seasons, and in every one of those 13 seasons, his team had a winning record.
Smith grew up in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
. He won the
International LeagueThe International League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball...
batting title in 1966 with a .320 average while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was called up to the major leagues the next season and played for the
Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since , the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature....
(-73),
St. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball...
(1974-76),
Los Angeles DodgersThe Los Angeles Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team based in Los Angeles, California, USA. The team is in the Western Division of the National League. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming the Brooklyn...
(1976-81) and
San Francisco GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California who currently play in the National League West Division. One of the oldest baseball teams, the Giants hold the honor of having won the most games of any team in the history of baseball...
(1982). Smith appeared in four
World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
, including during his rookie 1967
seasonThe 1967 World Series matched the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox, with the Cardinals winning in seven games for their second championship in four years and their eighth overall...
for the Red Sox, and three (
1977The 1977 World Series matched the returning American League champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League, with the Yankees winning the Series in six games...
,
1978The 1978 World Series matched the defending champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a rematch of the 1977 Series, with the Yankees winning in six games to repeat as champions....
and
1981The 1981 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers, marking their third meeting in the Series in five years. The Dodgers won the Series in six games for their first title since 1965, and their first victory over the Yankees since 1963.The Dodgers are the last team to...
) for the Dodgers. He hit three home runs in the 1977 series.
In the 1978 season, Dodger pitcher
Don SuttonDonald Howard Sutton is a former Major League Baseball player and current television sportscaster. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.-Biography:...
went public with comments that Smith was a more valuable player to the Dodgers than the more-celebrated
Steve GarveySteven Patrick Garvey is a former Major League Baseball first baseman, and current Southern California businessman. Garvey was a one time NL MVP, 10 time All Star, and holds the National League record for consecutive games played .-Playing career:Born in Tampa, FL to parents who had recently...
. This led to an infamous clubhouse wrestling match between Sutton and Garvey.
In the season as a member of the Dodgers, Smith was taunted by
GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California who currently play in the National League West Division. One of the oldest baseball teams, the Giants hold the honor of having won the most games of any team in the history of baseball...
fan Michael Dooley, who then threw a batting helmet at him. Smith then jumped into the stands at
Candlestick ParkCandlestick Park is an outdoor sports and entertainment stadium located in San Francisco, California. The stadium was originally built as the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until moving into Pacific Bell Park in 2000...
and started punching him. He was ejected from the game, and Dooley was arrested. Five months later, Smith joined the Giants as a
free agentIn professional sports, a free agent is a player, whose contract with a team has expired, who's eligible to sign with another franchise. The term came into wide use in North America after sports leagues stopped using a "reserve clause" after much acrimonious collective bargaining, which provided a...
. He spent one season in San Francisco, then moved on to Japan with the
Yomiuri GiantsThe are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League of Japan's top-tier major league, Nippon Professional Baseball, and they play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988...
for two seasons before retiring in .
After his playing career ended, Smith rejoined the Dodgers, where he served as a
coachIn sports, a coach or manager is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.- Staff :...
under
Tommy LasordaThomas Charles Lasorda is a former Major League baseball pitcher and manager. marks his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuous tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin...
, a minor league instructor and a player development official.
Smith became involved with USA Baseball in as hitting coach on the 1999 Professional Team at the
Pan American GamesThe Pan American Games are a multi-sport event, held every four years in the year before the summer Olympic Games and between competitors from all nations in the Americas...
in
WinnipegWinnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, in south central Canada, near the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(silver,
olympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
qualifiers). He's also served as hitting coach for the IBAF Baseball World Cup in
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
(gold). Smith also served as hitting coach for Team USA during the
World Baseball ClassicThe World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball , the Major League Baseball Players Association , and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world...
, and served as hitting coach for the Bronze medal winning USA Baseball Olympic team at the
2008 Summer OlympicsThe 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, were a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 302 events in 28 sports, one...
in
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
.
See also
External links