Card of the Week: 1981 Fleer #15 Lonnie Smith
Posted by Andy on February 6, 2010
This is the first post in a new regular feature on the Baseball-Reference.com blog. Each Saturday I will post a baseball card along with some stats and commentary about the card itself. Please feel free to make any suggestions in the comments below.
Despite having a rookie baseball card in the 1979 Topps set and finishing 3rd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1980, Lonnie Smith didn't get a card in the 1980 set itself. However, after playing in 9 post-season games with the champion Phillies that post-season, Smith got cards in the 1981 sets, including this one in 1981 Fleer. This year was a big one for baseball cards, with Fleer and Donruss coming out with sets to challenge Topps, who had been the sole company on the market for numerous years (and is again in 2010, for the first time since 1980.)
Although this is not an action shot of Smith, I still love the card. It's a good shot of him, mutton chops and all, and there's a lot to see from his index finger outside the glove to his cool Phillies wristbands. I also enjoy cards that contain some evidence of when or where they were taken. In the background appears to be a Padre player, wearing the brown and yellow of the day. As Smith's jersey is an away one, this picture was probably taken in Jack Murphy Stadium, perhaps in June of 1980 when the Phillies visited San Diego.
Smith was, in my opinion, an underrated player. He hit for average, got on base well, had excellent speed, and was a decent base-stealer. The thing that really sticks out about his career, though, was the degree to which he was in the right place at the right time.
Check out the leaders for most post-season games played in the 1980s:
| Rk | Player | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lonnie Smith | 38 | Ind. Games | 148 | 137 | 41 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 25 | .299 | .340 | .394 | .734 |
| 2 | Ozzie Smith | 37 | Ind. Games | 155 | 132 | 33 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 18 | 8 | .250 | .336 | .311 | .646 |
| 3 | Tom Herr | 37 | Ind. Games | 159 | 140 | 31 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 12 | .221 | .282 | .329 | .611 |
| 4 | Willie McGee | 36 | Ind. Games | 149 | 144 | 42 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 5 | 31 | .292 | .315 | .458 | .774 |
| 5 | Keith Hernandez | 30 | Ind. Games | 138 | 117 | 31 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 21 | 20 | 19 | .265 | .370 | .359 | .729 |
| 6 | Dave Henderson | 30 | Ind. Games | 119 | 102 | 32 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 19 | 13 | 30 | .314 | .395 | .627 | 1.022 |
| 7 | Gary Carter | 30 | Ind. Games | 128 | 118 | 33 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 8 | 15 | .280 | .320 | .466 | .786 |
| 8 | Willie Wilson | 29 | Ind. Games | 133 | 124 | 34 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 25 | .274 | .318 | .355 | .673 |
| 9 | Frank White | 29 | Ind. Games | 120 | 111 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 16 | .207 | .246 | .297 | .543 |
| 10 | Mike Scioscia | 29 | Ind. Games | 95 | 84 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 7 | .238 | .312 | .321 | .633 |
| 11 | George Brett | 29 | Ind. Games | 124 | 110 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 18 | .318 | .395 | .555 | .950 |
Lonnie's on top,and that's not even considering his post-season games with the Braves in the early 1990s. In fact, from 1954 to 1994 (stopping short of the wild card era) Smith has the 3rd-most playoff games, behind only Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose.
As a recap, Smith started with the Phillies and played on their 1980 championship team. During the 1981 off-season he was traded to the Cardinals and won another World Series with St. Louis in 1982. He was still on the Cardinals in 1985 but was traded mid-season to the Royals, only for both teams to make it to the World Series and Kansas City to come out on top. (As an aside--can you name any other players to play for both World Series teams in a given year?) Eventually the Royals dumped Smith and he was picked off the scrap heap by the Braves, one of the worst teams in baseball. Lonnie was an instrumental part of the rebirth of that franchise, appearing in two World Series in 1991 and 1992 with Atlanta before moving on to Pittsburgh in 1993. He played in 5 World Series with 4 different teams and was on the winning side three times. That's pretty remarkable.
February 6th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
This set was Fleer's debut set returning to the card market. I thought that after their first 3 regular sets(1981-1983) that they would never make it. They were ugly and had a ton of errors. They finally got it right with the 1984 set. After that, though, it was hit or miss. Do not really miss them.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Lonnie Smith was awesome. I like this "card of the week" idea. Like Kent, I was never into Fleer, they just felt a lot like "fake cards" to us kids back in the early 80's. I liked Upper Deck & Topps, with Topps being my fav.
February 6th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Interesting that he didn't have a 1980 Card. After the "series" mechanism for issuing cards was stopping in 1974 or 1975, the entire set had to be selected early in the spring. Lonnie Smith didn't play much in 1979 and had already appeared in a "prospects" card the year before. So, Topps picked three other prospects to put on that card. I wonder if anyone ever appeared on "rookies/prospects/future stars" cards in more than one year for the same card company.
Anyhow, Smith spent four years in AAA (1976-79). He played well for his age, but it doesn't look like the Phillies appreciated him because in mid-1977, they traded for Bake McBride who effectively blocked him for two more seasons.
February 6th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Most of the Phillies' 1st round picks since 1990 (Mike Lieberthal) have made it to the majors, and several of these have had significant careers (although not all with the Phillies). However, before 1990, this was not the case. Lonnie Smith did have a significant career, but for the seven years following his selection in 1974, four of the first rounders never even made it to the big leagues, and the other two had only a small number of major league appearances. (In 1979, they didn't have a first round selection. Was it compensation for signing Pete Rose?) The 1981 first round selection, Johnny Abrego, had only one major league victory. By then, he was no longer a Phillie, and it was against them!
February 6th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
The question of playing for both teams that went to the World Series came up on the SABR forum in 2008. Clem Comly reported,
I have found 5 who played for both World Series teams but only 1 appeared in that WS.
Jack Kramer pitched for both the Giants and Yankees in 1951 but did not appear in WS.
Johnny Schmitz pitched for both the Dodgers and Yankees in 1952 but finished season with Reds.
Sid Monge pitched for both the Padres and Tigers in 1984 but did not appear in WS.
Lonnie Smith played for both Cardinals and Royals in 1985 and played in WS.
Jim Bruske pitched for both the Padres and Yankees (and Dodgers) in 1998 but did not appear in WS for Yankees.
February 6th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Twins fans would like to thank Lonnie for not being a very good baserunner and getting duped by Knobs!!
February 6th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
My favorite Lonnie Smith memory was a throw charging in from left field to try to get a runner rounding second. Lonnie's toss eephused and landed about 5 feet in front of him. The runner, having seen the errant throw, rounded third to try to score. Lonnie, still on the run, picked up his own errant toss and threw out the runner at home, 7-7-2.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
as a reply to the prospects question, check out the cardboard for one A's reliever Todd Van Poppel. He was a prospect for what seemed like 5 years.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:19 am
I remember a Yankees-Royals game in the mid-late '80s. I don't remember the exact situation, but there was a hit to left field, and I remember hoping against hope that Lonnie would screw up the throw. I think he had small hands or something, and was notorious for making some awful throws. I know that there's no chance he'll actually do it, but I'm wishing....and sure enough, the ball slips out of his hand and goes nowhere...I'm guessing it helped the Yankees score a run.
Well, great. I just checked the boxscores for every game the Royals played against the Yankees while Lonnie Smith was their left fielder, and I don't see him making any errors. So either he wasn't credited with an error on this play, or my 25-year-old memory is completely invented. I refused to accept that, so now I shall pretend I never made this post and go back to living in ignorance.
February 7th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
To DavidRF
Lou Pinella appeared on three different rookies/prospects cards in the mid to late 1960's for Topps. In fact, he did so for three different teams (1964 Senetors, 1968 Indians, and 1969 Pilots).
February 7th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
And Piniella went on to win Rookie of the Year with yet another team, the Royals, when the Pilots traded him before the season.
February 7th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
"Skates" was an awesome player to watch and he played a big part in the Cardinals winning it all in '82 as I attended many games that year. He was a key part in "Whiteyball". But the one play I remember is when he got deked by Chuck Knoblauch in game 7 of the '91 series when he should have scored on an extra base hit. That's one blemish on a very fine career.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Mr. Dave:
Thanks for the info. I looked up all three of those cards. In fact, he wasn't wearing a hat in his 1968 card so they re-used the picture in his 1969 card with a different team.
Interesting to see how much a guy like Piniella moved around. CLE->WAS->BAL->CLE->SEP-KCR. Similar to Lonnie Smith, he was fast-tracked to AAA and then stayed there for a while. I don't know why the Indians couldn't find a place for him. I suppose his playing time is a bit uneven so there could be injury issues.
February 8th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Gerry, thanks for digging up that data on playing for both WS teams. I had no idea how rare Smith's "accomplishment" was.
February 8th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Great Feature - the only thing (baseball related) I love more than stats is baseball cards.
Mr. Dave - you beat me to it with Lou Piniella, nice job.
DavidRF - the other example I had off the top of my head is Dale Murphy - who (I believe) was on "Rookie Stars" cards in 1977 and 1978 Topps. Unlike Piniella, though - those cards were from years when there only about 8 - 10 cards with 4 rookie players (from the whole league) on each. As opposed to when there were "team rookies" cards with 2-3 players for each card with 1-2 cards per team. Back in the day when I was counting up my high $$$ rookie cards (and yes it was THAT long ago because a Dale Murphy rookie card was still worth high $$$), I would always get faked out in my zeal that the 1978 card was a rookie - when actually it was 1977.
Actually, now that I think about it, the story is pretty much the same for Bobby Murcer (1966/1967).
February 8th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I love seeing baseball cards making an appearance here. I bought a few Fleer and Donruss starting in '81, but then stayed with Topps exclusively...blind loyalty and simplicity, I guess, because Topps has disappointed me plenty. Thanks for the stories. Lonnie Smith playing for both WS teams in '85 is a great tidbit. I also didn't know about Piniella's hat trick.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
I saw Lonnie Smith get hit in the nose with a fly ball in left field one game when he was a Cardinal. Still, he was heckuva hitter.
February 10th, 2010 at 12:02 am
"I wonder if anyone ever appeared on "rookies/prospects/future stars" cards in more than one year for the same card company."
Bill Davis was on FIVE multi-player rookie stars cards (1965 to 1969 Topps).
February 10th, 2010 at 1:12 am
All five of the Bill Davis cards can be seen here (ignore the first one): http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Players/Racing/Bill_Davis/340733/Cards/Baseball
February 10th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Incredible that Bill Davis was a five-time 'Rookie Star'...pretty inglorious. Davis was actually the Padres opening day starting 1st baseman when they debuted in '69, but he only kept the job for two weeks before being replaced (wisely) by Nate Colbert. He was traded to the Cardinals a month later, but never played a MLB game for them...nor, apparently, was he labeled a 'Rookie Star' by them.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
It looks like they used the same picture (sans signature) for Bill Davis on the '67 and '68 cards; I guess they figured that they could save a few bucks on the photographer fee. (Or perhaps they realized late in the 1968 production that they didn't have a second rookie star for Cleveland, and quickly grabbed the previous year's Davis picture.)
It also looks to me like he still has his Indians jersey on in the '69 Padres card. Of course, since that was the Pad's first year, they likely took pictures of the players from their previous teams. Cito (they actually put his given first name - Clarence - on the card) Gaston also has on what looks like his Braves jersey. Love the "high tech" blackouting on the cap logos...
February 11th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Another player I came across to have multiple rookie stars cards was Richie Zisk in 1972 and 1973.