Happy Belated Birthday to Ozzie Smith. In a 19-year career playing for the St. Louis Cardinals & San Diego Padres, Smith established himself as one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the game, playing Shortstop. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1978-1996):

.262 BA 2,460 HITS 28 HR 793 RBI 1,257 RUNS .337 OBP

  • 15x All-Star
  • 13x Gold Glove
  • Silver Slugger (1987)
  • NLCS MVP (1985)
  • World Series Champion (1982)
  • 1995 Roberto Clemente Award

As an Offensive Player

From a Hitter’s standpoint, Smith was a very solid bat. While his numbers aren’t anywhere near guys like Honus Wagner or Cal Ripken Jr, it’s not like he was a liability at the plate. As a Switch-Hitter who batted leadoff at points of his career, he was a very good contact hitter, suitable for 150 plus Hits a year. Also, never once in his career did Smith strike out more than he walked, drawing 1,072 career Walks to only 589 Strikeouts. When he got on base, Smith was good enough at baserunning to steal 580 bases over his career, averaging 37 a year.

As a Defender

Now, when it comes to Ozzie Smith, we remember him for his fielding, which he’s one of the greatest fielding players ever to live. At Shortstop, a very physically demanding position, he won the most Gold Gloves than anyone else, with 13 consecutively. Throughout 2,511 games and 21,785.2 Innings at the position Smith recorded a lifetime .978 Fielding Percentage. Amongst Shortstop, Smith is the all-time leader in Assists (8,375), 2nd all-time in Double Plays (1,590), and is 8th all-time in Putouts (4,249). People call Brooks Robinson the human vacuum cleaner at Third Base; well the same can be said of Ozzie Smith because he was so automatic at his position; people just called him the “Wizard of Oz.”

Best Years

From an Offensive standpoint, Smith only had one year that stands out. In 1987, he finished runner-up in the NL MVP voting while taking home his one Silver Slugger Award. 

.303 BA 182 HITS 0 HR 75 RBI 104 RUNS .392 OBP 43 SB (158 Games)

Legacy

Defensively, based on what Smith did defensively, he was and is so deserving of the Hall of Fame, even if he never took an At Bat in his career. The two positions a player can get into the Hall of Fame with their glove are Catcher and Shortstop. In Smiths’ case, while he gets in by his glove, I believe he was above average at the plate for his position. Despite playing over 150 games yearly at a physically demanding position, Smith was an above-average offensive player. In 2002, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, wearing a Cardinals hat into Cooperstown. Also, in 1999, he was ranked #87 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ballplayers in baseball history.

References: 

  1. Ozzie Smith via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Smith#
  2. Ozzie Smith Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithoz01.shtml