Billy Franklin Smith (born January 14, 1930 at High Point, North Carolina) is a retired American professional baseball first baseman, outfielder, manager 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 of .312 in minor league baseball but he never climbed higher than the Double-A level. Smith graduated from Jamestown, North Carolina, High School and attended

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

. He played in the Boston/Milwaukee Braves'

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

from 1950–1954 and 1956–1960, spending his last three seasons as the playing manager of the

Boise Braves The Boise Braves were a minor league baseball team in the western United States, based in Boise, Idaho. They played in the Pioneer League from 1955 to 1963 as an affiliate of the Milwaukee Braves. The team played at the Class C level for all ...

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 Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. (His Boise club would win the playoffs in both 1958 and 1960, however.) Play at first base (3863775870) (cropped)

Smith scouted for the Braves from 1961–66, then switched to the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

' 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 of the American League, serving in that post for four seasons before returning to uniform as a Blue Jay coach under Bobby Cox and Jimy Williams from 1984–88.Howe News Bureau, ''Toronto Blue Jays 1985 Organization Book.'' St. Petersburg, Florida: The Baseball Library, 1985.

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at Retrosheet {{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