Wood vs. Wood #283

Last time was an easy 7-1 win for 1987. Will this be closer?

Charles William Smith was generally known as Charley, not Charlie, and started the 1961 season with the Dodgers, was traded to the Phillies in May, and is listed with the White Sox as he was traded again in November. This photo was presumably taken with the Dodgers in spring training. (I think he looks like Al Leiter with a crew cut.) Smith was a third baseman who could hit for power but not average, and that combination lead to teams constantly trading for him and then trading him away. The White Sox traded Smith to the Mets in 1964. In 1965 the Cardinals traded Ken Boyer to the Mets to get Smith. In 1966 the Yankees traded Roger Maris to the Cardinals straight up for Smith, to replace Ken Boyer's brother Clete. The pressure of replacing all of these stars reportedly weighed on Smith, who struggled with the Yankees. After a disappointing pair of season with the Yankees, he played two games for the Cubs in 1969 before retiring. In 771 games he hit .239 with 69 HR and 281 RBI. After his playing career he was the athletic director for the town of Sparks, NV. He died from a blood clot after knee surgery in 1994 in Reno, NV.

Doug Drabek on the mound against the Twins. That's Twins 3B coach Tom Kelly in the background; he would be named the team's manager in September and would win the first of his two World Series the following year. This was July 26, 1986, a rough day for Drabek and the Yankees. In 2.2 innings Drabek allowed 7 hits and 5 runs, though only two were earned, to spot the Twins a 5-0 lead in a game they won, 8-4. Drabek had a decent rookie season with the Yankees, who traded him to Pittsburgh in the off-season for Rick Rhoden. Rhoden had a couple of solid years with the Yankees, but the Pirates won the trade as Drabek quickly became a star, the ace of a staff that won three straight NL East titles. He was the NL Cy Young winner in 1990, going 22-6 with a 2.76 ERA. He signed with the Astros after the 1992 season and was an All-Star in 1994, but that ended up being his last good season. A groundball pitcher with low strikeout totals, Drabek failed to adjust to the rising offense of the era, ending his career with some ugly ERA numbers for a full season of work for the '97 White Sox (5.74 in 31 starts) and the '98 Orioles (7.29 in 21 starts). Overall in 398 games he went 155-134 with a 3.73 ERA. For the past 15 years Drabek has been a pitching coach in the Diamondbacks organization, currently for the AAA Aces, who play in Reno, NV.

The Aces' home stadium, where Drabek currently coaches, is just over a mile away from the hospital where Smith died.