Charley Smith: Mid Sixties Mets Slugging Third Baseman (1964 - 1965)

Charles William Smith was born on September 15, 1937, in Charleston, South Carolina.

The six foot one, right hand hitting Smith was a third baseman / shortstop who was one of the last players to get signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

At AA Victoria in 1959, Smith batted .308 moving up to AAA Spokane in 1960 where he then hit an impressive .322.

MLB Debut:  In 1960 Charley made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing as a September call up batting .167 in the month. 

The next season, on April 20th, in his first start he hit his first career HR coming off the Cardinals Curt Simmons. 

In May Smith was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies where he played for manager Gene Mauch as the team’s main third baseman, batting .248 with 9 HRs in 112 games. His stay there was brief after one season he was sent to the Chicago White Sox, for Roy Sievers.

Charley played there in parts of three seasons as a reserve infielder (1962-1963) behind Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio & Nellie Fox. Hal Smith as also an infielder on the team. In Chicago he got into just 71 games over the three seasons.

In April of 1964 he was traded to the New York Mets for infielder Chico Fernandez.

Mets Career: In New York, it became legendary how the Mets could never find a steady third baseman in the franchise's early years. Charley quickly became the team’s main third baseman holding the job for the rest of the 1964 season. Smith would also be used at short (36 games) & in the outfield (13 games).

1964: Charley was the Mets main slugger on a bad 1964 team that lost 109 ball games. 

Charlie began his Mets career slow, going 0-25 as his average fell off to below .100. On May 4th, he hit his first Met HR, it came in Milwaukee in a 2-1 loss against the Braves. 

On May 15th, he broke an 8th inning 2-2 tie with the Giants in San Francisco, hitting a two run double off Don Larsen for the 4-2 win.

Multi- Five RBI Game: On Tuesday May 26th, Charley had a career high five RBI Day in a Mets 19-1 blow out at Wrigley Field. In the 1st inning he collected a two-run single & added another RBI single in the 5th. In the top of the 9th, with the Mets leading 15-1, Charlie hit a three run HR off the Cubs Don Elston giving him the five RBI game.

The Mets put up a season best 19 runs & 23 hits that day but strangely Smith hit the only Met HR on the afternoon.

From June 5th to June 10th, Smith hit four HRs gathering six hits & six RBIs in the seven-game stretch. On June 7th in the first game of a double header at Shea with the Dodgers, he drove in the only Met run with a HR off Don Drysdale. 

On June 10th in the first game of a double header split at Shea with the Cubs, the Mets scored two runs in the bottom of the 12th. Smith reached base on an error & scored the game's winning run-on Jesse Gonder's walk off base hit. In the night cap, Charley hit his sixth HR of the season in the 5-2 loss.

The next night he hit a three-run HR, off the Cubs Sterling Slaughter, helping the Mets to an 8-3 win. It was just their 18th win on the year (18-36).

In mid-July Smith had another hot power streak, hitting three HRs with six hits & seven RBIs over four days. On August 2nd, he hit a HR off Houston's Don Larsen, while driving in two runs on the day, leading the Mets to a 4-2 win.

Multi HR Game: On August 17th at Shea Stadium, Smith had his first career multi-HR game, hitting two HRs while driving in four runs in Dennis Ribant's, four hit, 5-0 shut out of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ribant hit a 1st inning, three run HR off Bob Velae & an 8th inning solo shot off John Gelnar. 

Walk Off Hit: On August 23rd, Charley played both ends of a double header sweep over the Cubs at Shea. In the bottom of the 9th inning of the second game, he delivered a walk off RBI single off the Cubs Don Elston for the exciting win. Smith collected two hits & a walk in the game.

Smith closed out the season hitting safely in 12 of 15 games with four multi-hit games, hitting three HRs & driving in eight runs. He homered in each of the final two regular season games, reaching the 20 HR mark with his 4th inning solo shot off Curt Simmons in the final game.

Smith led the club in HRs (20) hitting 11 of them in the New big Shea Stadium. He was second in

RBIs (58) & third in slugging % (.402). He batted .239 with 106 hits & 12 doubles 44 runs scored, a .275 on base % & .676 OPS playing in 127 games. 

On the field he struggled, committing 23 errors at third base (4th most in the NL) in 85 games at that position, as the Mets third baseman issues continued defensively. He also played 36 games at short stop & 13 in the outfield.

1965: Smith returned as the clubs main third baseman in 1965, but started out slow, batting just under the .200 mark until mid-May without a HR.

Three HRs in Three Days: On May 14th, the Reds came to Shea Stadium for a four-game series. Smith hit HRs in three of the four games driving in five runs. In the opener he hit a 6th inning HR off Joe Nuxhall breaking a 3-3 tie, leading to the 5-3 win.  On May 16th, Charley then homered in both games of a Mets double header sweep, with HRs off Roger Craig & John Tsitouris.

From May 21st to May 27th, Charley collected 13 hits & drove in nine runs in an eight-game span. On May 23rd he drove in three runs for the first time on the season. He would finish the month with five HRs with 16 RBIs.

In June, Smith hit safely in 13 of 18 games raising his average to .275. After the All-Star break, he hit HRs in back-to-back games at St. Louis against the eventual season's World Champions Cardinals. On July 31st, he hit a first inning three run HR in Philadelphia, leading Gary Kroll & the Mets to a 4-3 victory.

The next day, he drove in both Mets runs with another two run HR. 

 Multi- Four RBI Game & HRs In Both Ends of a Double Header: On August 8th at Shea Stadium, he hit HRs in both ends of a double header for the second time during the season. The first came off the Cubs Bob Buhl in the 7-6 loss to Chicago. In the night cap he had a season high four RBIs, with a two run HR & two run triple, although the Mets lost the game 14-10 getting swept. 

From August 20thto August 31st he had another hot streak, with seven hits over eight games, hitting two HRs & driving in six runs. But he slumped after that without hitting a HR 7 batting just .179 in the final month of the season.

For the 1965 season, Smith led the team in RBIs (62) & had a career high 122 hits. He was second to a rookie Ron Swoboda in HRs (16) & doubles (20). Smith was third on the club in slugging (.393). He played in 135 games, batting .244 with 49 runs scored, 17 walks for another poor .273 on base % & .666 OPS. 

K's: Charley struck out over 100 times in both seasons in New York, coming in the top ten among all NL batters in that category both seasons. In 1965 he fanned 123 times.

At third base he improved posting the leagues 4th best fielding percentage (.957) making 18 errors in 418 chances turning 27 double plays, ten more than the previous year. He played 131 games at third & six at shortstop.

After the 1965 season, he was traded along with Al Jackson to the St. Louis Cardinals for the veteran All-Star Ken Boyer. In 1966 Boyer would hit 14 HRs with 61 RBIs & bat .266 for the Mets. He would be gone mid-way through the 1967 season.

Post Mets Career: Charley Smith raised his average to .266 in St. Louis, matching a career high four triples playing in the new Busch Stadium. But his power numbers fell off to 10 HRs with 13 doubles & 43 RBIs.

In St. Louis he was the last starting third baseman before Mike Shannon took over the spot for the next four seasons, after moving from the outfield. In 116 games he batted .266 with 10 HRs & 43 RBIs.

At the end of the season, he was traded to the A.L. New York team, even up for outfielder Roger Maris. Those Cardinals went on to win the ’two straight pennants & the 1967 World Series after Smith's departure. 

Meanwhile his A.L. New York team fell into the ninth place. Charlie was the teams main third baseman batting .224 with 9 HRs & 38 RBIs. 

Multi-HR Game: On August 24th he had his second career multi-HR game, hitting two HRs off the White Sox Tommy John while bring in four of the five runs, in Mel Stottlemyer's 5-0 shut out.

In 1968 he saw action in just 46 games batting .229, as Bobby Cox became the teams main third baseman. Smith was used more as a pinch hitter going 10-31 in that role. In December Smith was traded to the San Francisco Giants. In Spring 1969 his contract was purchased by the Chicago Cubs. That season he played between AAA Tacoma & the Cubs, ending his career.

Career Stats: In a ten-year career Smith played in 771 games, batting .239 with 594 hits 69 HRs 83 doubles 18 triples 228 runs scored & 281 RBIs. He struck out 565 times with 130 walks posting a .279 in base & .649 OPS.

Smith played 623 games in his main position at third base making 105 errors in 1912 chances for a .945 fielding %. He also played 61 at short stop & 13 in the outfield.

Family: Charley & his wife Carol had two children, Suzanne & Brian.

Retirement: Smith eventually retired to Reno, Nevada. 

Passing: In 1994 he passed away after complications from a knee operation; he was only 57 years old.