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Willie Smith
Los Angeles Angels
Outfield
Born: February 11, 1939, Anniston, AL
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1963; Los Angeles Angels 1964-1965; California Angels 1966; Cleveland Indians 1967-1968; Chicago Cubs 1968-1970; Cincinnati Reds 1971
Died: January 16, 2006, Anniston, AL (age 66)
Originally drafted as a pitcher by the Tigers, Willie Smith converted to a full-time outfielder/first baseman after a few seasons and then enjoyed a nine-season career in the big leagues. He occasionally returned to pitching throughout his career and in 1964 he became the last major leaguer to pitch in at least 15 games and appear in his team's line-up at a different position in at least 15 games or more in the same season.
Smith was only an everyday player for the Angels in 1964 and 1965, and he'd make his mark later in his career as a successful pinch-hitter. Smith played in 691 games total, taking the field in 461 of those appearances. His most famous pinch-hit was the extra inning, game-winning home run he hit for the Cubs on opening day 1969 against the Phillies. For his career, Smith hit .248 with 46 home runs and 211 RBIs, twice finishing in the top ten in triples in the A.L. As a pitcher, he made 29 appearances and went 2-4 with a 3.10 ERA and 2 saves. Smith wrapped up his professional career with two successful seasons in Japan playing for the Nankai Hawks in 1972 and 1973. With the Hawks, he hit .259 over 170 games with 29 home runs and 90 RBIs.
Building the SetAugust 21, 2020 from Charleston, SC - Card #147
In my largest (by volume) purchase to date, I spent an enjoyable hour or so in mid-August browsing the eBay store of seller mantlerulz and clicking Add to Cart on 30 different cards. We had previously added 29 cards to our set back in February from the Philly Show. The 30 cards, all commons, cost me $52 total (before shipping and taxes) with the cards ranging in prices from $1 to $6. I love this haul and I found the seller's store by accident when I was browsing eBay in an attempt to add a few more cheap cards from the set's first series. With the exception of the cards for Dick Howser (#92) and manager Birdie Tebbets (#301), along with the few former Phillies in the lot, most of the players featured on these cards are unknown to me. In the coming weeks, I'll go through each of these new cards for our set in detail, and we've now passed the quarter mark for completion of the complete set. We still have a long way to go, and quite a few pricey cards to add but any day I can add 30 commons in excellent shape and at a low prices is a great day. This Smith card was $1.
The Card / Angels Team Set
This is Smith's rookie card and it doesn't appear as if there are any baseball cards marking his early years in Detroit. On the back, his .301 batting average in 1964 is highlighted but it seems to me he actually won the team's batting title over Jim Piersall (#172), who hit .314 but didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the title. And not to pick on Topps here, but the last sentence appears to be wrong too. According to Baseball Reference, Smith won 47 minor league games up through the 1964 season. He won two more in 1967 while pitching for the Indians' top farm team in Portland.
1965 Season
With the Angels, Smith appeared in a career high 136 games, hitting .261 with career highs in home runs with 14 and RBIs with 57. As the team's regular left fielder, he started 108 games with only Jose Cardenal (#374) in center starting more games in the outfield with 125. His time as a regular was short-lived as manager Bill Rigney (#66) moved him back to the bench in 1966 in favor of starting Rick Reichardt (#194) in left. Despite making 15 appearances on the mound in 1964, Smith didn't pitch at all in 1965.
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First Mainstream Card: 1965 Topps #85
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (7): 1965-1971
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1971 Topps #457
30 - Smith non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/29/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Previous Card: #84 Ron Herbel - San Francisco Giants
Next Card: #86 Les Narum - Washington Senators
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