Season 30, Day 20 - "We're Off to See the Wizard"
It's Smith week, and today's quiz is inspired by Ozzie Smith.
Ozzie Smith
“Go crazy, folks, go crazy… the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3 to 2, on a home run by the Wizard!”
Ozzie Smith is a former baseball player who played shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. Nicknamed “The Wizard” or “The Wizard of Oz,” he was one of the best defensive players in baseball history; he is the all-time leader in defensive WAR (wins above replacement), a statistic that measures the value of a player’s defense when compared to that of an average defender. He also won 13 straight Gold Glove Awards, which are given to the best defenders at each position in each league. A 15-time All-Star, Smith won a World Series ring in 1982 and was MVP of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in 1985, losing to the Kansas City Royals in that year’s World Series (thanks in part to an infamous blown call at first base by umpire Don Denkinger). Though Smith was a below-average hitter and rarely hit for power, he did smash a memorable game-winning home run in Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS (play-by-play call by Jack Buck quoted above). The Cardinals retired Smith’s uniform number (#1) upon his retirement in 1996. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, with his plaque in Cooperstown noting: “His congenial personality, consummate professionalism and trademark back flip made ‘The Wizard’ a fan favorite.”