Mayo Smith

Mayo Smith
Smith in 1957.
Manager, Outfielder
Born: January 17, 1915(1915-01-17) New London, Missouri
Died: November 24, 1977(1977-11-24) (aged 62) Boynton Beach, Florida
Batted: Left	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 24, 1945 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
September 27, 1945 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Career statistics
Batting average	.212
Hits	43
Runs batted in	11
Managerial win-loss record	662-612
Teams
As player Philadelphia Athletics (1945) As manager Philadelphia Phillies (1955–1958) Cincinnati Reds (1959) Detroit Tigers (1967–1970)
Career highlights and awards
1968 World Series Champion

Edward Mayo Smith (January 17, 1915 – November 24, 1977) was an American player, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball.

Smith was born in New London, Missouri, but grew up in Florida. A left-handed batter who threw right-handed, Smith was a career minor league outfielder who spent many seasons in the International League with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Bisons. At age 30, he played his only season in the major leagues, hitting .212 with the 1945 Philadelphia Athletics.

When his playing days ended, Smith became a manager in the farm system of the New York Yankees in 1949. After rising to the AA Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association in 1953-54, Smith was named manager of the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League. The Phillies of the mid-1950s had become an aging collection of the 1950 league champion "Whiz Kids" and, despite the heroics of perennial 20-game winner Robin Roberts, had to struggle to finish at the .500 mark. Smith compiled a 264–281 record in 3½ seasons before his firing on July 22, 1958.

He returned to a National League dugout in 1959 at the helm of the Cincinnati Reds, but a poor start (35–45 and seventh place) cost him his job and Fred Hutchinson replaced him at the All-Star break.

Smith then returned to the Yankees, serving as a "super scout" from 1960–66, until the Detroit Tigers called him back into harness, naming him their manager for 1967. He nearly won the American League pennant in his first year in Motown, losing out to the "Impossible Dream" Boston Red Sox on the last day of the season.

In 1968, however, the Tigers took no chances: led by 31-game-winner Denny McLain, they won 103 games and won the pennant by a dozen games. With left-handed starting pitcher Mickey Lolich winning the second, fifth, and seventh games (and who hit a home run in Game 2), the Tigers came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to defeat the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 World Series, besting the mighty Bob Gibson in the deciding game.

In the series, Smith made one of the boldest and most talked-about managerial moves in modern baseball history. In this period before the designated hitter, the Tigers had rotated four good hitting outfielders (Al Kaline, Willie Horton, Jim Northrup and Mickey Stanley) for the three positions. Regular shortstop Ray Oyler, always a light hitter, famously went "0 for August" (Oyler hit .135 for the season). Concerned about his team's offense, Smith inserted Stanley as the starting shortstop. Stanley played creditably in the Series, and although he made two of Detroit's 11 errors, neither of them led to Cardinal runs. He only hit .214 with no RBI for the Series, but the other three outfielders made solid contributions to the Tigers' dramatic victory. Stanley's seven games at shortstop were his 10th through 16th major league appearances at the position, having played Detroit's final nine regular season games at short in preparation for the Series.

That season represented Smith's high-water mark as a manager. The Tigers fell to second place behind the dynastic Baltimore Orioles in 1969. Then, in 1970, the team fell to 79–83 in a season marked by the suspension of McLain amid gambling allegations. Immediately after the season, on October 2, 1970, the Tigers fired Smith and replaced him with volatile Billy Martin. As the Tigers headed for their first losing season since 1963 and their worst record since 1960, Smith had come under increasing criticism from fans and the press as his players quit on him. He finally lashed out after he was fired; sharing one last drink with the Detroit media, he uncharacteristically said “The baseball fans in this town are ignorant. They couldn’t tell a baseball player from a Japanese aviator. And that’s a quote.”[1]

In all or parts of nine seasons as a manager, Smith compiled a record of 662–612 (.520).

A very successful businessman off the field, Smith then retired from the game and concentrated on ranching and real estate investing in his home state of Florida. He died in 1977 in Boynton Beach after suffering a stroke.

A Tigers fan club was named the Mayo Smith Society in his memory by its members.

See also

• 1968 Detroit Tigers season

External links

• Mayo Smith managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Mayo Smith Society^{[dead link]}

Preceded by Terry Moore	Philadelphia Phillies Manager 1955–1958	Succeeded by Eddie Sawyer
Preceded by Jimmy Dykes	Cincinnati Reds Manager 1959	Succeeded by Fred Hutchinson
Preceded by Frank Skaff	Detroit Tigers Manager 1967–1970	Succeeded by Billy Martin

Persondata
Name	Smith, Mayo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 17, 1915
Place of birth	New London, Missouri
Date of death	November 24, 1977
Place of death	Boynton Beach, Florida