Wizard Is Off to Hall of Fame

A 13-time Gold Glove winner as the best fielding shortstop in baseball history, Ozzie Smith came up bronze Tuesday when it was announced he had been elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He will be inducted at Cooperstown on July 28.

Smith, named on 433 of the 472 ballots, or 91.7%, was the only former player to receive the required 75% in voting by eligible members of the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

Catcher Gary Carter, who continued to close in on the honor in his fifth year on the ballot, received 343 votes, only 11 shy of election, and had to cancel a party at his Florida home.

“When the anticipation is so high, obviously there’s a letdown,” he said. “It’s like somebody dangling a carrot in front of a horse but saying, ‘No, you can’t eat it.”’

Smith, who set major league records for assists, double plays and chances during his 19-year career with the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals, became the 37th player elected in his first year of eligibility.

No one besides Carter came close. Jim Rice was third in the voting at 55.1%, followed by Bruce Sutter at 50.4%. Andre Dawson, thought to have a strong chance of being elected in his first year on the ballot, received only 214 votes, 140 fewer than needed. Luis Tiant failed in his 15th and last year of eligibility, while Ron Guidry and Dave Stewart were among several well-known players who failed to get 5% of the votes and will be dropped from the ballot.

The Smith landslide, coming a year after Bill Mazeroski’s selection by the veteran’s committee, was further recognition of defense.

At 47, Smith--scheduled to run a leg of the Olympic torch relay in St. Louis on Tuesday night--said he was too old to perform his patented back flip in response to his selection, but he called it “very rewarding” in that he had to work twice as hard in an offense-dominated game “to achieve the same things as those big guys who hit the ball out of the park.”

Although he collected 2,460 hits and felt he became more well-rounded “than I was given credit for,” Smith acknowledged that his election “speaks to the impact I had at my position. I didn’t like the moniker of being a one-dimensional player, but I prided myself on having the ability to change the momentum of a game simply by making a great defensive play. I had the good fortune of going to Cooperstown last year for Mazeroski’s induction and it sent a clear message to me that I had a chance. Hopefully, it helps open the door for more players who were primarily defensive guys.”

If Smith revolutionized the shortstop position with his acrobatic range and agility, the position has undergone another revolution with bigger, stronger players who are posting power numbers that Smith called “unbelievable.”

He called it a “great period” in the history of the position but said something has to give and that the bigger and stronger shortstops become, the less range they are likely to cover and that “there will always be room for the prototypical shortstop [like himself].” Of the great cast at the position today, Smith singled out Derek Jeter for the defensive stability and clutch hitting he provides the New York Yankees, and said:

“Jeter has to have a distorted view of what baseball is all about the way he makes it to the World Series almost every year.”

Smith played in three World Series, and now he is headed to Cooperstown with nothing to be defensive about if his ticket was punched with his glove.

Asked if he ever had time to marvel at his several highlight reels of spectacular plays, the “Wizard of Oz” laughed and said: “In the midst of making plays you don’t have time to admire them. I tried to [forget] the good plays just as quickly as the bad because the next one might be more important. Since retiring, I’ve had the chance to sit down and look at some of the plays on tape, and you know what? I was good.”

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Voting Leaders

The top 10 in the annual baseball Hall of Fame voting, with 354 votes needed for election:

Ozzie Smith: 433

Gary Carter: 343

Jim Rice: 260

Bruce Sutter: 238

Andre Dawson: 214

Rich Gossage: 203

Steve Garvey: 134

Tommy John: 127

Bert Blyleven: 124

Jim Kaat: 109

Complete voting, D8