Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith is an active example of the Cardinals’ history, expectations
In a not uncommon occurrence for south Florida in the winter time, Thomas Saggese found himself exchanging pleasantries with a senior citizen over breakfast on Tuesday morning.
Ozzie Smith, in the first months of his 70th year, answered a few polite questions about fielding from the 2023 Double-A batting champion, and then suggested the two get together later in the day to put theory into action.
A day later, standing in the same spot on a turf field adjacent to the St. Louis Cardinals spring clubhouse, Smith walked a reporter through the same progression he undertook with Saggese, pivoting his hips and directing the balls of his feet toward an imaginary first base to guarantee the path of a throw would be true.
“Not as loose as they used to be,” Smith said with a smile.
The exchange between Smith, 69, winner of 13 Gold Gloves and first ballot inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Saggese, 21, in his first big league camp, is the essence of spring training. Seeking to make a positive impression on the organizational decision makers as much as he is to learn and embrace the experience, Saggese even still found himself surprised by the Hall of Famer’s enthusiasm to put him through his paces.
“If there’s anybody I’m going to be starstruck with, it would probably be a guy like him, for sure,” Saggese admitted. “He has a lot of knowledge to share. The fact that he was so nice and willing to help was really neat.”
“That’s what it’s all about,” Smith said. “When you have an organization that’s as rich in tradition as the Cardinals, it’s important. It’s one of the things that I think has made this a great organization over the years is being able to have players who are still functional.”
“I’m still functional,” he laughed, underplaying his athleticism.
Saggese is a superlative hitter and flexible defender, and manager Oliver Marmol said Wednesday that the team wants to see him in game action this spring at second base, where he’s most comfortable, as well as shortstop and third. He played all three spots after being acquired in last season’s trade with Texas for Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton, and his since skyrocketed up the prospect charts to find himself inside the top 100 for both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.
Given the world class hand-eye coordination skills that are necessary to post the .306/.374/.530 slash line that Saggese mustered across the two highest levels of the minors last season, Smith figured he needed less of meticulous breakdown of technique and more encouragement to trust his instincts.
“Just let it happen, the movement,” Smith said. “That’s all I told him. The body reacts to what it sees. It makes it easier to go this way, it makes it easier to go that way. I told him, ‘it’s like dancing.’”
As he walked through the lesson and took a step to each side, moving his hips in turn, Smith was still undeniably balletic. The magic that made him The Wizard may have faded over the years, but there’s an intuition present that’s difficult to teach but harder still to lose.
“You’re one with the ball and flow with your energy, just shifting energy,” Saggese recalled of the lesson. “That’s gonna be my thing now. If Ozzie Smith told me to do it, I’m gonna do it.”
Recent years have not been kind to the Cardinals and their alumni. Lou Brock, Bob Gibson and Red Schoendienst, all long-time spring fixtures, have all passed away in the last six years, their presence and their voices removed from the intangible mix that defines what it means to be a St. Louis Cardinal.
Once a member of the generation behind those legends – indeed, once a beneficiary of their instruction himself – Smith is now the standard bearer.
He is the only Baseball Hall of Famer actively engaged in instruction this spring, which he sees as opportunity and obligation in equal measure.
“We hate to see guys go, but unfortunately, it’s a part of life,” he mused. “They don’t put any added pressure on me. I volunteer my time, and they give me the opportunity to do this…It’s almost just natural.”
The lessons don’t stop with the prospects. Among the other practice fields which comprise the team’s training complex is a fenced-in infield bearing a large sign which reads, “The Land Of Oz – Where Cardinal Infielders Become Wizards.” On Wednesday, on that namesake, Smith stood next to Nolan Arenado, 23 Gold Gloves between them, and fielded ground balls for a segment filmed for the Cardinals Insider television show.
During a break in filming, Arenado, the team’s highest paid and most prominent player, asked Smith to walk him through a few technical aspects of exchanging the ball from glove hand to throwing hand. He wanted to be sure, though, that he wasn’t taking up too much of the legend’s time.
Smith laughed loudly enough to be heard from a full field away, and the two stayed out taking grounders for a full half hour, only occasionally remembering to narrate the work enough for the television broadcast.
For all the discussion about clubhouse leadership and reclaiming an identity which surrounded the winter’s player acquisitions, those teaching moments – from Saggese to Arenado and all the stops between – are microcosms of what the Cardinals are irrevocably convinced set the standards that they’re eager to reclaim.
Some things, though, remain a mystery. Saggese did share that Smith didn’t offer any tips on executing a backflip.
“I should have asked him,” Saggese said, grinning ear to ear.
He certainly would’ve been willing to help.
