Lonnie Smith (baseball)

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Lonnie Smith
Runs batted in
533
Stolen bases370
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Lonnie Smith (born December 22, 1955) is an American former

drug abuse to become one of the top base-stealers in baseball during the 1980s, with the seventh-most steals.[1] He played on five pennant-winning teams, three of which won the World Series
.

Playing career

Minor Leagues

Smith began his minor league career with

Oklahoma City and scored 106 runs the following year again with Oklahoma City.[2]

Philadelphia Phillies

After brief trials with the Phillies in 1978 and 1979, Smith broke into the team's lineup in 1980, batting .339 in 100 games. The Phillies won the National League pennant and defeated the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Smith's performance was strong enough for him to finish third in the Rookie of the Year balloting following the season. He continued to play well in the strike-shortened 1981 season, hitting .324.

St. Louis Cardinals

Smith was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in November 1981, for Lary Sorensen, in a deal which eventually netted the Phillies Bo Díaz.[3] Smith continued to hit well in 1982, and to have a good on-base percentage. In fact, 1982 was a high-water year for Smith in several different ways: Smith was in the

MLB All-Star Game for the only time in his career in 1982. He had a batting average of .307, and on-base percentage
of .381. He led the National League with 120
runs scored
, which was the only time that he scored 100+ runs in a season during his major league career. Smith also set career highs in 1982 with 592 at-bats, 182 hits, 35 doubles, and 257 total bases during the regular season. He also ranked second in the National league with a career-high 68 stolen bases, but he was also caught stealing a career-high 26 times. The Cardinals' manager, Whitey Herzog, had ordered his fastest players to attempt to steal bases whenever possible as part of his strategy for winning.

All of the above pushed Smith all the way up to second place in voting for the regular-season

runs batted in and walloping 36 home runs
.

Smith batted a healthy .321 during the 1982 World Series, and he helped the Cardinals to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, four games to three.

Towards the end of his first season with the Cardinals, Smith infamously attacked the Phillie Phanatic. Despite his speed, Smith was known for occasionally tripping and falling while running. He attributed this to being "pigeon-toed" as a child. During a series between the Cardinals and the Phillies in September 1982, the Phillie Phanatic began mimicking Smith at close range before the game, doing belly-whops on the turf. Tired of the mocking, Smith tackled the Phanatic, reportedly injuring the mascot's ankles.[4] Despite this, Smith was still allowed to play, so when he took his position in left field, Phillies fans started throwing beer bottles at him. Rather than seeking shelter, Smith turned around, threw up his arms, and taunted them, daring them to hit him, which none did.[5]

Smith continued to play well during

illicit drug abuse, which sidelined him for a month at mid-season during a highly publicized rehabilitation stint at the Hyland Center in St. Louis.[6][7]

Smith returned to the Cardinals after his time on the bench in 1983, and he remained with them through the end of the 1984 baseball season.

Kansas City Royals

Smith was traded to the Royals in exchange for outfielder

left field spot with Smith; they had lacked an everyday player since the departure of Amos Otis two years earlier. Smith's past met his present following the regular season, when he hit .333 in the 1985 World Series to lead the Royals to a seven-game upset of the favored Cardinals. When Smith took the field in Game 1 of the 1985 World Series, he became the first player in MLB history to play in the World Series against a team that traded him away within the same season.[9]

Pittsburgh drug trials

Smith testified in the Pittsburgh drug trials of September 1985. As with other major league players, he was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.[10] In February 1986, Smith, along with six other players, was determined to have been a prolonged drug user who had also facilitated distribution to other players, and was suspended for a full season. All the suspended players were allowed to continue playing under the condition that they donated ten percent of their base salaries to drug-related community service, submitted to random drug testing, and contributed 100 hours of drug-related community service.[11]

Smith went on to have his best season in three years in 1986, but saw his playing time reduced during the 1987 season.

In July 1987, Smith told the

illicit drugs.[12]

Following the 1987 season, Smith had trouble finding a new team to play with, and he came to think that then-Royals general manager John Schuerholz had blackballed him.[13] By his own account, Smith was depressed and also addicted to cocaine when he considered murdering Schuerholz, and even purchased a pistol for that purpose. Smith had second thoughts about committing such a serious crime, however, and he dropped the idea entirely.[14]

Atlanta Braves

During March of

MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award
.

Smith continued to be a regular outfielder for the Braves during the next two seasons, batting .305 in

Milwaukee
.

1991 World Series

Smith committed a base-running blunder very late in Game 7 of the

third base. Smith later stated that he had lost sight of the baseball against the ceiling of the Metrodome, though replays from the TV coverage of the game showed that the Twins' second baseman Chuck Knoblauch and shortstop Greg Gagne had potentially deceived Smith; Knoblauch pretended to throw to Gagne for a force, but didn't actually have the ball.[14]

Regardless of the cause, Smith only advanced to third base. After a ground-out (the runners could not advance) and an intentional walk (which loaded the bases), Smith was forced out at home plate in a double play, leaving the Braves scoreless. The score remained 0–0 through the end of the ninth inning.

The Twins went on to score one run in the bottom of the tenth inning, taking the game 1–0, and winning the World Series four games to three. Smith hit three home runs in the Series.

Later career

Smith remained with the Braves through the end of the

National League pennant once again, though they lost the World Series four games to two against the Toronto Blue Jays
. Smith hit a grand slam in game five of that series.

Next, Smith departed from the Braves, and he signed up with the

pinch-hitter, Smith played in his final major league game on August 10, 1994, in the Orioles' last game before that year's strike
. He was granted free agency for the last time the following October 24.

Career statistics

In 1613 games over 17 seasons, Smith compiled a .288

stolen bases, 623 base on balls, a .371 on-base percentage and a .420 slugging percentage. His career fielding percentage
was .964. In five World Series and six playoff series, Smith hit .278 (57-for-205) with 28 runs scored, 4 home runs and 17 RBI.

Baseball historian Bill James wrote about Lonnie Smith's difficulties playing defense. He wryly stated that Smith should have had a post-retirement career teaching (so-called) "defensive recovery and cost containment" since he had excelled at recovering from defensive difficulties in the outfield.[17]

Retirement

After retiring from pro baseball, Smith married once more, and he and his wife returned to Atlanta to reside. They became the parents of three children. Smith briefly re-entered national attention in 2006, when he told The State, a newspaper from Columbia, South Carolina, about his notion to murder Schuerholz 18 years earlier.[14]

On June 18, 2015, sportswriter Jon Bois published a video documentary on Lonnie Smith and his history throughout his career, including the cocaine habits, near murder of Schuerholz, and his redemption with the Braves.[18]

Records and achievements

  • Smith is the first player to be a member of three different World Series winning teams (the Phillies, Cardinals, and Royals) within a single decade, and he did this in a six-year period. This feat was then matched by Will Smith who achieved it in consecutive years with the Braves, Astros, and Rangers.
  • Smith set a franchise record for the St. Louis Cardinals on September 4, 1982, when he stole five bases in a single game.
  • Smith won the National League's runs-scored championship in 1982, when he scored 120 runs for the
    National League pennant and also a World Series championship. This was also his only baseball season in which he was selected to play on the National League All-Star Team
    .

See also

References

  1. ^ Between the 1980 and 1989 seasons, Rickey Henderson stole the most bases, with 838 steals, Statmuse
  2. ^ Norman MacLean, ed. (1988). 1988 Who's Who in Baseball. New York: Who's Who in Baseball Magazine Company, Inc.
  3. ^ "Lonnie Smith to Card, Diaz to Phils in 3-team deal". Gettysburg Times. Nov 20, 1981. p. 6C.
  4. ^ Vecsey, George (18 Oct 1982). "Lonnie Smith is on thin ice". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  5. ^ Bois, John (26 July 2013). "This Week In GIFs: Nothing belongs to you". SB Nation. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  6. ^ Falkner, David (20 July 1989). "The Comeback Of Lonnie Smith". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  7. ^ Bock, Hal (23 March 1984). "Lonnie Smith recalls nightmare of drugs" Associated Press (via The Southeast Missourian).
  8. ^ "Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2020-10-21.
  9. ^ Chass, Murray (October 20, 1985). "New Lonnie Smith Faces His Old Club". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  10. ^ Cook, Ron. "The Eighties: A terrible time of trial and error," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 29, 2000).
  11. ^ Bodley, Hal. "Ueberroth took action in 1986 cocaine scandal," USA Today (Mar. 4, 2004).
  12. ^ "Smith blast puts holes in baseball's alleged anti-drug abuse campaign". Lewiston (Maine) Daily Sun. 1987-07-29. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  13. ^ Justice, Richard (May 14, 1989). "Lonnie Smith Repays Braves For Confidence". Washington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Babb, Kent (5 November 2005). "Battle Scars". The State. pp. C1.
  15. ^ "Orioles get Smith, cut Davis," United Press International (UPI), Wednesday, September 8, 1993. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  16. ^ "Pirates name minor leaguers they got from Orioles for Smith," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, September 14, 1993. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  17. ^ James, Bill (1986). The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1987. Ballantine Books. p. 279.
  18. ^ Bois, Jon (June 18, 2015). "Lonnie Smith fought the 1980s and beat its ass down". SBNation.com. Retrieved October 5, 2020.

External links

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