Best All-Time Shortstops Ozzie Smith
"“As I was in the air, the ball took a bad hop and caromed behind me, but I was able to catch it with my bare hand. I hit the ground, bounced back up, and threw Burroughs out at first.”—Ozzie Smith"
There are four shortstops on this top-25 list who were below average on offense (100 wRC+ is average). They are Bert Campaneris (90 wRC+), Luis Aparicio (83 wRC+), Joe Tinker (96 wRC+) and Ozzie Smith (90 wRC+).
Campy, Aparicio and Smith all make up some ground with their base running ability, but it’s Ozzie Smith’s defense that puts him in the top five while the others are ranked 19th, 21st, and 24th.
Fans growing up in the 1970s and 1980s know Smith for his wizardry with the glove. Heck, he was called “The Wizard of Oz” or, simply, “The Wizard.”
He made plays we’d never seen before, both on balls hit in the hole between short and third and balls up the middle that he’d somehow make an incredible play on. Here’s the play against Jeff Burroughs that he described in the quote above.
Smith won his first Gold Glove Award in 1980, his third season in the major leagues. He would go on to win it every year through 1992, for a total of 13 in his career.
Along with the Gold Gloves, Smith was recognized as an all-star 15 times. He even won a Silver Slugger Award when he hit .303/.392/.383 and scored 104 runs in 1987.
Statistically, he’s considered the best defender in the history of the game, ahead of Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Luis Aparicio, who round out the top five. His glove was so good that it is sometimes overlooked that he did have seven above average seasons on offense (by wRC+).
Smith’s offense and defense were well-suited to the team for which he played and the artificial turf ballparks of that era of baseball. He played four years with the San Diego Padres early in his career then was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in a multi-player deal that brought Garry Templeton back to San Diego.
With the Cardinals in the 1980s, Smith joined a team of jackrabbits who stole bases, bunted, and used the hit-and-run. He fit right in with those guys. He also mastered the artificial turf of Busch Stadium.
He helped four Cardinals teams reach the playoffs between 1982 and 1996. There of those teams advanced to the World Series, with the 1982 team winning the Fall Classic against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Smith retired after the 1996 season and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 91.7 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility.
There are some fans today who believe Omar Vizquel, who will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, has a case for Cooperstown because of his similarities with Smith. They are wrong.