Ozzie Smith the spectacular defensive shortstop and Baseball Hall of Famer turns 58 today. Ozzie started his career as a very light hitting defensive wizard for the San Diego Padres. He played with the Padres from 1978-81. After the 1981 season he was traded to the St.Louis Cardinals for Garry Templeton another shortstop. At the time of the trade it was looked at as Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog dumping a problem player and getting the best deal he could. It appeared to be a one sided trade. Templeton may have been the most talented shortstop of the late 70’s -early 80’s. A shortstop who was also an outstanding hitter, which wasn’t that common back then. Templeton though had issues. Like when he was booed by the Cardinal fans coming off the field and he gave them the bird. He also had off-the field issues. Whitey wasn’t one to put up with crap so he traded him off to the Padres. After that point Ozzie became a better hitter and a key member of the 1980’s St.Louis Cardinals. Templeton would never be the player he was in the first few years of his career when he looked like a future Hall of Famer. Smith would play for the Cardinals from 1982 until his retirement at age 41 in 1996.

Ozzie is one of the few players who made the Baseball Hall of Fame due to his defensive skills. He is the greatest defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen. He turned into a productive offensive player. Back in that time most of the baseball stadiums had artificial turf. Herzog built his team around speed. Ozzie would finish his career with a .262 batting average and 580 career stolen bases. He won 15 Gold Glove Awards and was named to 13 All-Star teams. His #1 is retired by the Cardinals and he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2002.

One of the moments I will never forget regarding Ozzie is one of his at-bats. Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS- scored tied at 2 in the bottom of the 9th, Ozzie who up until this time had never hit a home run batting left handed [3009 at bats} ended the game with a home run. That is when Cardinal announcer Jack Buck made his famous “Go crazy, folks” call. It would later be voted the greatest Cardinals moment at Busch Stadium.