CATCHER AT THIRD BASE
Unmasked Hal Smith Proves Slick Infielder For A's
"In any group of baseball athletes, the catcher is usually recognizable on sight, even when unburdened by any of the apparatus of his trade, which has sometimes been called the tools of ignorance. Mostly, the catchers are of wide girth and thick of neck and they toe out like Yogi Berra and Clint Courtney and are pushovers for television panelists who guess people's lines.
The whole catching profession has a new hero this year, though, one of their own, who is giving them lift and tone and proving that catchers can be like some other people and play third base, for example. He is Hal Smith of the Kansas City Athletics, who waved a wand, or something, over himself and has emerged as a very slick member of the A's infield.
When the A's are on the field, it is impossible to tell by looking that the fellow making all the plays at third base and who is, in fact, their No. 1 third baseman, is their old warhorse catcher, Smith. The clues are faint because Smith happens to be tall and shapely and nimble and altogether implausible as a catcher.
Harry Craft, the manager of the A's, said it all began with Smith last season when, for a while, the third base situation became unsatisfactory. 'I got the hunch when I saw Smith fooling around at third base in practice.'
The A's manager said, 'You know what happens in practice on every ball club in practice. The outfielders want to come in and show off. The pitchers and catchers usually go to first base and fool around and try to act like Hal Chase and George Sisler.
'Well, pretty soon we saw Smith out there on third, and this is a revelation. He's playing third with a catcher's mitt and making one-hand pickups and everything. This is so incredible that we threw him a finger glove and now in practice he begins to play third base better than anybody we ever had there. For a club that has three catchers and no third baseman, my next decision was easy.'
Smith finished up playing 12 games at third base last season and nobody played it better, Craft said. That was nice for the A's because Smith also swings a good bat and two years ago was their leading hitter with a .303 average and last season he still had a neat .273. Also, it permitted Hector Lopez to get off third base, where he didn't belong, and back to second base, where he did.
Smith personally liked the whole idea of his transformation into an infielder after a ten-year career in the majors and minors. The arm that used to throw out base stealers is now the best in the A's infield and Smith said, 'Another thing is I am blessed with a strong chest that balls can bounce off of if I misplay 'em with my glove.'
The Yankees used to own Smith, which is another thing in his favor. They gave him a small bonus ten years ago and Yankee scouts are the most particular operatives. On account of Yogi Berra, there was no room for Smith on the Yankees. But before he became the regular catcher for the A's, he was the regular catcher for the Orioles, too, proving that the Yankees do not waste their money.
The hard hit ball problem isn't his problem, Smith said. 'A third baseman's hands don't have to be any quicker than a catcher's, you know,' he said. 'Actually a catcher's hands have to be quicker. The thing that could bother me most about playing third is the bunt. But when you've been a catcher, you learn more about the bunting intentions of these guys who have little giveaways in their actions, so maybe I have the edge there.' "
-Shirley Povich, Washington Post (Baseball Digest, June 1959)
"Hal, a catcher by trade, was converted into a third sacker last year and in 43 games played well at the 'hot corner.' He also boasted of a 20-game hitting streak last season.
Hal is one of eight Smiths who played in the majors last year."
-1959 Topps No. 227
