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Merkle923 · 01-25-2017, 07:42 PM

There are plenty of guys who started as pitchers and wound up in the outfield, but we don't see them like Willie Smith any more.

After 42 games as a pitcher, pinch-hitter, or pinch-runner with the '63 Tigers and '64 Angels, Bill Rigney stuck him in left, batting second, in the second game of a doubleheader on June 14, 1964. And before the season was out Smith would make 79 more starts in the outfield (and appear on a major league mound only four more times in a career that would stretch through 1971).

Like many 1964-66 era Angels, shots of Smith with the "CA" cap are few and far between. Dexter included him in its '66 Angels postcard set and a clean copy of the negative is below (there's also a Topps Vault of him in the 1966 attire. Topps had a lot of trouble with him: its '66 card shows him capless in a '65 Angels uniform; the '67, '68, and '69 cards show him in a Tigers uniform, dating to no later than spring training 1964).

Added because it's here is a new 1969 shot of Smith with the Cubs.

01-25-2017, 07:42 PM	#30085
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,189	Willie Smith 1963 There are plenty of guys who started as pitchers and wound up in the outfield, but we don't see them like Willie Smith any more. After 42 games as a pitcher, pinch-hitter, or pinch-runner with the '63 Tigers and '64 Angels, Bill Rigney stuck him in left, batting second, in the second game of a doubleheader on June 14, 1964. And before the season was out Smith would make 79 more starts in the outfield (and appear on a major league mound only four more times in a career that would stretch through 1971). Like many 1964-66 era Angels, shots of Smith with the "CA" cap are few and far between. Dexter included him in its '66 Angels postcard set and a clean copy of the negative is below (there's also a Topps Vault of him in the 1966 attire. Topps had a lot of trouble with him: its '66 card shows him capless in a '65 Angels uniform; the '67, '68, and '69 cards show him in a Tigers uniform, dating to no later than spring training 1964). Added because it's here is a new 1969 shot of Smith with the Cubs. Last edited by Merkle923; 08-04-2017 at 01:07 AM.