Billy Franklin Smith (born January 14, 1930 at

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph, Davidson, and Forsyth counties. High Point is North Carolina's only city that ...

) is a retired American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed during his active career. Smith compiled a lifetime

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .312 in minor league baseball but he never climbed higher than the Double-A level. Smith graduated from

Jamestown, North Carolina Jamestown is a town in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of the nearby cities of Greensboro and High Point. The population was 3,382 at the 2010 census. Geography Jamestown is located in southwestern Guilford Co ...

, High School and attended North Carolina State University. He played in the Boston/Milwaukee Braves' farm system from 1950–1954 and 1956–1960, spending his last three seasons as the playing manager of the Boise Braves of the Class C Pioneer League. In 1959, he managed Boise to an 81–47 record and a runaway Pioneer League regular-season title, and led the league in hitting with a .390 mark. But his club fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Idaho Falls Russets. (His Boise club would win the playoffs in both 1958 and 1960, however.) Play at first base (3863775870) (cropped)

Play at first base (3863775870) (cropped)

Smith scouted for the Braves from 1961–66, then switched to the Houston Astros' organization as a scout and minor league manager at the Rookie and Short Season-A levels from 1967–79. In 1980, he became director of player development of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

, serving in that post for four seasons before returning to uniform as a Blue Jay coach under

Bobby Cox Robert Joe Cox (born May 21, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cox played for the New York Yankees and managed the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of ...

and

Jimy Williams James Francis Williams (born October 4, 1943) is an American former professional baseball infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in Santa Maria, California, and briefly appeared in two MLB seasons as a seco ...

from 1984–88.Howe News Bureau, ''Toronto Blue Jays 1985 Organization Book.'' St. Petersburg, Florida: The Baseball Library, 1985.

References

External links

Information
at

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Billy 1930 births Living people Atlanta Braves scouts Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from High Point, North Carolina Boise Braves players Evansville Braves players Hagerstown Braves players Hartford Chiefs players High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms players Houston Astros scouts Jacksonville Braves players Lincoln Chiefs players Major League Baseball farm directors Major League Baseball first base coaches Milwaukee Braves scouts Minor league baseball managers NC State Wolfpack baseball players Toronto Blue Jays coaches Toronto Blue Jays executives Baseball coaches from North Carolina