Nathaniel Beverly Smith (April 26, 1935 – August 18, 2019) was an American professional baseball player, a catcher whose career was confined to minor league baseball except for a five-game Major League stint with the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the season. He threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Born in Chicago, Smith attended Tennessee State University. His professional career (1956–59; 1961–64) was spent in the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers' organization until the Orioles purchased his contract from the Triple-A Omaha Dodgers in September 1962. In his first MLB

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

, Smith pinch hit for Oriole pitcher

Wes Stock Wesley Gay Stock (born April 10, 1934) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher, pitching coach and television commentator. He appeared in 321 games pitched (all but three in relief) between 1959 and 1967 with the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas Ci ...

and singled off

left-hander In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

Ted Bowsfield Edward Oliver Bowsfield (born January 10, 1935) is a Canadian former professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher born in Vernon, British Columbia, and raised in Penticton, he appeared in 215 games pitched in Major League Baseball over seve ...

of the Los Angeles Angels.Retrosheet
/ref> He would collect one more hit, a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

off another lefty, Jack Kralick of the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, in his last MLB game.

References

External links

Career record and playing statistics
from Baseball Reference 1935 births 2019 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American baseball players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Chicago Dallas Rangers players Green Bay Bluejays players Knoxville Smokies players Kokomo Dodgers players Macon Dodgers players Major League Baseball catchers Omaha Dodgers players Reno Silver Sox players Rochester Red Wings players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players {{US-baseball-catcher-1930s-stub