All-Time Indians: Al Smith (OF)

The late 1940’s were a tremendous time to be a baseball player in Cleveland. The Indians had more Hall of Famers on the team than they ever had before or ever would again, ultimately leading to a World Series title in 1948 and another appearance in 1954. While they played games at the same stadium to a different crowd, the Negro League Cleveland Buckeyes were also in their heyday, supplanting the incredible Homestead Grays by winning the 1947 Negro World Series. There was just a single player who can claim to have been a star on both teams and that man was Al Smith.

Smith was signed out of high school in St. Louis to the Buckeyes in 1946. Although he was signed as a third baseman, he was mostly used at short stop during the 1947 championship year. In that season, he hit .285 and he improved that to .300 when he moved into the outfield in 1948. The Indians were among the most proactive teams at integrating (only surpassed by the Dodgers in the NL), already signing Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, and kept a close eye on their local NLB club. As a 19 year old, Smith caught the eye of an Indians scout and he was signed to the team in 1949. The Indians didn’t stop there, bringing on Sam Jones and Luke Easter as well from the Negro Leagues, but Smith was the only to make a mark for both franchises, ultimately becoming one of the top left fielders in Indians history.

After a few years in the minors, Smith made his Major League debut in 1953 and got into 47 games as an outfielder for the Tribe. He batted just .240 in limited action, but that was enough for him to grab the starting left fielders role in 1954, replacing Dale Mitchell. With Bob Lemon and Bob Feller still on the roster and the new addition of another Hall of Famer, Early Wynn, the 1954 Indians team was possibly even better than the 1948 squad that won it all. Smith had also proven himself a reliable batter in his first full season, hitting .280 with 101 runs and 88 walks in 131 games. Unfortunately, the Indians were swept in the World Series by the Giants, but little blame could be placed on Smith, who played in all four games, scored twice, knocked in two and hit a home run.

From 1952 through 1955, the Indians powerful roster showed itself by dominating the American League MVP, despite having just one winner. In both 1952 and 1954, the Indians had at least seven players get MVP votes, surrounding Al Rosen‘s actual win of the award in 1953. Most likely, it was at least some racism that kept that award from coming to Cleveland in those years as well as Doby lead the league in home runs twice, but never finished higher than second in the voting. In 1955, it was Smith’s turn to get snubbed. As the starting right fielder, Smith played in 154 games, blasting 22 home runs, knocking in 77, batting .306 with a league high 123 runs scored. He was by far the Indians best hitter, outpacing both Doby and Rosen and ultimately lost the MVP to Yogi Berra of the Yankees, who batted just .272/.349/.470 compared to Smith’s .306/.407/.473.

Smith was an All-Star in 1955 and most likely deserved to be again for his 1956 campaign. That year, he batted .274 with 16 home runs and 71 more RBI. That season, he started again in right field, but played games at third, second along with all three outfield positions. The following season, Smith fell off slightly with his average dropping to a career low .247 in 135 games. Unfortunately for Smith and the city of Cleveland, this downturn came at the absolute worst time as Frank Lane was in the process of dismantling the team, an era that included the trades of Rocky Colavito and Herb Score. Smith himself was sent to Chicago along with Wynn in exchange for Fred Hatfield, who played just three games for Cleveland, and Minnie Minoso, who had started his career with the Tribe a decade earlier. While Minoso was a multiple time All-Star already, he was two years older than Smith and would only stay in Cleveland for two more seasons before being traded back to Chicago.

Smith, on the other hand, showed that the lay-off was not permanent as he crushed another 85 home runs in five years with the White Sox. Ultimately, he would actually have a better career with the White Sox than with Cleveland, making another All-Star team for batting .315 in 1960 and receiving MVP votes in three separate seasons including a sixth place finish in 1960. In 1963, the White Sox made another brilliant move, sending Smith to Baltimore in exchange for a group of players including former Indian, Hoyt Wilhelm. Wilhelm would go on to keep a 1.92 ERA through 675.2 innings with Chicago as the first great closer, while Smith would stay with the Orioles for a single season. At the end of 1963, it was back to Cleveland in exchange for Willie Kirkland.

Like Colavito and Doby, who each played in Chicago before returning to Cleveland for a second run, Smith returned to the place where his baseball career started. At the age of 36, Smith batted just .162 and hit just two more home runs in 61 games before being released. While he did sign on with the Red Sox for the end of the season, he was released at the end of the year after which he retired from baseball entirely. He died at the age of 73 in 2002.