The Wizard powers up in NLCS
With the 1985 National League Championship Series tied at two games apiece, Cardinals announcer Jack Buck was lamenting his team’s missed opportunities to score in a contest that was knotted at two with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning.
At the plate was Ozzie Smith, who had never hit a home run batting left-handed in 3,368 regular-season plate appearances.
Virtually no one watching in the ballpark or at home on Oct. 14, 1985, expected what came next.
“Smith corks one into right down the line,” Buck said in his famous call of the game, his voice raising with every word. “It may go! Go crazy, folks! Go crazy! It’s a home run and the Cardinals have won the game!”
For Smith, it was a moment that will live with him forever.
“Fans still come up to me and share their memories of that home run,” Smith told the Hall of Fame. “It’s something that never dies, never fades.”
Smith hit a career-high (to that point) .276 in 1985 but was still valued mostly for his spectacular defense. After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Padres, Smith was traded to the Cardinals prior to the 1982 campaign in a deal that sent shortstop Garry Templeton to San Diego.
Smith’s play helped St. Louis win the World Series in his initial season with the Cardinals, and in 1985 the Cardinals shocked the experts by posting 101 wins to capture the National League East title. Smith drove in a career-best (to that point) 54 runs while posting 31 steals – his fifth time in eight seasons with at least 30 stolen bases.
Pumping his fists in the air as he rounded the bases after crushing a 1-and-2 fastball from Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer, Smith was mobbed by his Cardinals teammates after he reached home plate. Both teams seemed to recognize that this was the turning point in the series, which returned to Dodger Stadium for Game 6 two days later.
With Los Angeles leading 5-4 in the top of the ninth and needing just three outs to force Game 7, Niedenfuer went back out to the mound for his third inning of work. Smith again found himself in the middle of the action when he drew a one-out walk with Willie McGee on second base, and both runners advanced on a ground out by Tom Herr.
With first base open, the Dodgers elected to pitch to Jack Clark – who homered to left field to score McGee and Smith and give St. Louis a 7-5 advantage.
When Ken Dayley retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals claimed the pennant.
St. Louis would fall to the Royals in the World Series. But Smith’s clutch plate appearances in the NLCS proved to be the start of an offensive surge for the shortstop, who averaged .281 at the plate over his age-31 to 38 seasons, becoming a consistent threat with the bat while maintaining the elite defensive skills that resulted in 13 Gold Glove Awards.
He retired after the 1996 season and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2002 in his first year eligible.
“I don’t like the moniker of being a one-dimensional player,” Smith told Gannett News Service in 2002. “I didn’t have any teaching on offense until I got to the big leagues.
“It’s not easy learning to hit at the big league level against Tom Seaver, J.R. Richard, Nolan Ryan – they take you to school. Fortunately, teams allowed me the time I needed to become a better offensive player.”
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
