1/20/2023 0 Comments Jack smith play![]() He worked around the coal mines - above ground, he noted - and was planning to go to barber college in the fall of ’58. In the offseason, Smith went home to Matewan, where his wife, Helen, and daughter lived - he was married two months before high school graduation. He completed 10 games and threw a couple shutouts, and his walk rate dropped nicely. Smith turned things around with a solid season for the Des Moines Bruins in 1958, with an 11-11 record and 4.30 ERA. “I bounced around last year and I just couldn’t win anywhere,” he later said of that forgettable ’57 season. He did set a Pioneer League record with 13 strikeouts in 6 innings in one game. ![]() ![]() Smith played on three teams again in 1957, turning in a combined 6-15 record in the Dodgers’ low minors. The control would greatly improve as the 19-year-old hurler gained experience. Described in the local paper as a “fast-working, hard-throwing” right-hander, Smith struck out 141 batters in 196 innings, though he also walked 120. He spent all of 1956 with the Reno Silver Sox of the Class-C California League, and he was tied for the team lead in wins with 14. In his first season of pro ball, Smith pitched for three different Class-D teams, winning 5 games for Donalson of the Alabama-Florida League. Source: Atlanta Constitution, September 6, 1961.
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