the next legend recognized

when i first started following baseball, there were two reggies. three, if you count reggie cleveland (shout out to the old-school bill simmons and his reggie cleveland all-stars). while cleveland was in my 1978 topps set, i only had eyes for reggie jackson and reggis smith.

while jackson was the straw that stirs the drink, smith was my right fielder. he was one of the four 1977 dodgers to hit 30 home runs and was a key component of their back-to-back pennant winning teams in '77 and '78. from a hobby perspective, he was the first player i took note of wearing a huge gold chain (thanks to his 1978 topps card) and i have core memories around his 1976 and 1980 topps cards as well.

the most recent card of the right fielder of my youth to join my collection is this 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic signatures card

numbered to 99, this card was listed on comc as a gold stitch, gold ink signature. however, it's actually the gold stitch, black ink version. the black ink has faded to "gold" in some sort of alchemist dream, but at least the signature is still visible. i love this card and the others like it from this set and it is an absolute travesty that upper deck screwed up the materials.

anyway, the whole reason for this post, other than to show off my latest reggie smith card, is to acknowledge the fact that tonight, he joins his teammates steve garvey, ron cey, manny mota, and dusty baker in the dodgers' legends of dodger baseball club. he will get his blue blazer and be celebrated for his role with the club as a player and as a coach. baker recently noted that smith was the best player he ever played with other than hank aaron. baker has also referred to smith as "a foxhole dude" meaning someone he would want by his side in war. that's pretty high praise.

smith wsa a five tool player and one of the best switch hitters ever to play the game. he was signed out of compton by the twins, but selected by the red sox soon thereafter, and later traded to the cardinals and then to the dodgers, much to my delight, although i didn't know any of that back when i was watching him hit three home runs of his own (not in the same game like that other reggie, unfortunately) in the 1977 world series. he was still a member of the dodgers in 1981 when they finally won the world series, but missed a lot of the season and appeared only as a pinch-hitter in the fall classic that year.

with don sutton and tommy lasorda having their numbers retired thanks to their hall of fame status, smith joining the legends of dodger baseball means that seven members of the team of my youth are honored by the club. i think that it is reasonable to assume that davey lopes, bill russell, steve yeager, and rick monday might all be added someday as well. tonight, however, is about reggie smith and i wish i were there in person for it.