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PAOI1* (SP RTS PR edited by Steve K. Walz The unknown all-star he generally tossed them to was a kid named Amos Otis, later to become a star outfielder with the Kansas City Royals. Ozzie moved with his family from Mobile to Los Angeles when he was eight years-old, and, in organized baseball, from Little League to Babe Ruth League, Ozzie always found himself one step ahead of where he was playing. By the time he reached Locke High School, he was excelling in basketball as well as baseball, despite his height and weight disadvantages. Off the court and diamond, Smith en­ joyed exploring California, which is how he came to wind up at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. A walk-on for the Cal Poly baseball team, he soon earned a scholarship, and at the end of his junior year was drafted by the Detroit Tigers. He elected, however, to stay in school, taking his chances on being drafted after his senior year (when, by peculiar major league standards, he might be con­ sidered too old). He won his gamble when, in the spring of 1977, the Padres selected him in the draft and sent him to their Walla Walla, Washington farm club, which was rookie ball, one notch below Single A. It was something of a comedown, his hav­ ing just returned from Taiwan where he had played on the U.S.A. college all-star team, but he didn't stay down very long. He quickly worked his way up to-the ma­ jor league instructional league in Arizona, and in the spring of 1978, just one year out of a small college, he reported to the Padres' training camp and earned the shortstop job which he has held ever since. In the 1980 season, his third year of major league baseball, Ozzie re-wrote the baseball record book when he set the all-time record for assisted putouts by a shortstop, thereby breaking the previous record established in 1924. Clean-cut, affable, easy going, Ozzie laughs off questions about his long- range future plans. "I'm still just getting into baseball," he says, "I've got to learn yet and that's what I'm concentrating on. I know eventually I want to work with kids, but just where and in What field, I don't know yet." He pauses. "I'll tell you," he says final­ ly, with a rather embarrassed laugh, "I'd really like to learn how to tap dance. I mean, just for the fun of it." Considering the way Ws nimble feet flash around second base on a double play, it shouldn't be much of a problem. TV OOMNUM MMCM. •*. Flashy on and off U j <!» • '• .. San Diego--Ozzie Smith, now in his fourth full season as shortstop for the San Di$go Padres, is perhaps the epitome of the new breed of professional baseball player., A slim, trim young athlete, he stands 5' JO", weighs only 155 pounds, and looks more like a dancer than a major- league player. He appreciates good clothes and is cpmfortable in a coat and tie, anathema to most pro athletes. He is articulate, soft-spoken, laughs easily and meets the world with the easy assurance of, a man who has earned his own inner security. On the field, where he js known as "The Wizard of Oz," Smith sends oldtimers' minds harking' back to the days when Napoleon Lajoie was giving daily clinics on how to play second and short when he was with the Cleveland In­ dians. Quick as a cat, graceful as a bird field--Ozzie Smith. in flight, and the brains of the infield, he is^a defensive gem. In 1979, in only his third season as a major leaguer, he won the prized Gold Glove Award as the best fielding shortstop in the National League, marking the first time in baseball that a Gold Glove Award was given to a shortstop on a last place team. History It was not, of course, always as easy as Ozzie makes it look on the field. Born Osborne Smith in Mobile, Alabama on December 26, 1954, he learned very early in life that being born on the day after Christmas has its own built-in disadvantages, although being born in Mobile had certain unrecognized fringe benefits. His home bordered a school baseball field, and balls used to drop over the fence into the Smith backyard quite regularly. Young Ozzie got to toss them back--and the big high school boy