Baseball way back: Why Wonderful Willie raised Cubs' fans' temperature in 69

In 1969, Cubs fever swept through Chicago.

The man who unleashed the outbreak was a 30-year-old former Negro League All-Star who stepped to home plate as a pinch hitter before a record Opening Day crowd of 40,796 at Wrigley Field.

Willie Smith was an unlikely hero on Tuesday, April 8, as the Cubs made their season debut against the Phillies.

The afternoon's laurels, it appeared, were destined to be worn by Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, playing in front of his dad, who flew in from Dallas. Banks made his pop proud by hitting 2 homers in his first two at-bats to account for 5 Cub runs.

But the Phils clawed back, sending the game into extra innings before Don Money put Philadelphia ahead 6-5 with a double in the top of the 11th.

Hope for the Cubs revived in the bottom half of the frame, when rookie Phillies reliever Barry Lersch, who had retired the previous 10 hitters, yielded a single to Randy Hundley with one out.

And that's when Cubs Manager Leo Durocher, according to Smith's account in the Sporting News, "was kind of looking around between Al Spangler and me, and he kept shifting his eyes," before saying, "Smitty, get a bat."

What happened, and the pandemonium that ensued, gained immortality through Cubs TV voice Jack Brickhouse. The ball's flight toward the right-field seats seemed interminable, as Brickhouse kept screaming, "Back ... Back ... back," before he erupted into a euphoric "Hey! Hey! It's a homer! Willie Smith just homered! The Cubs win the game!"

The WGN radio call by Vince Lloyd was just as memorable, as he described the "welcoming committee for Willie" at the plate.

That welcoming committee, it turned out, included a teammate who spiked him in the right big toe.

As of that moment, the Cubs were perched in first place in the NL East, where they would remain until Sept. 10, and Smith had earned an enduring place in Cubs history.

But it also capped a career already filled with notable milestones.

As Andrew Sharp, in an article for the Society for American Baseball Research, wrote, "He was the last major leaguer - and the only African-American player ever - to have pitched and played different positions in the field in 15 or more games each in the same season." In 1964 with the Los Angeles Angels, he pitched in 15 games and made 57 appearances in left field, three in center and 31 in right.

That year, on June 8, against the Cleveland Indians, Smith drove in a run with a pinch-hit single in the top of the seventh and then came around to score on another single. He then took over in right field before moving to the mound to pitch in the 8th, only to throw back-to-back homers.

During a nine-year career, he pitched 61 innings, with a 2-4 record, two saves and a 3.10 ERA.

He also had 1,654 at-bats, with a lifetime .248 average, 63 doubles, 21 triples, 46 home runs and 211 runs batted in.

His ability both on the mound and at the dish was already evident in the Negro American League with the Birmingham Black Barons. The team signed the Anniston, Alabama product after he homered and hit 2 triples playing against the Barons for a team of local all-stars in 1957, according to Sharp's article.

Smith pitched in two Negro League All-Star Games at Comiskey Park, in 1958 and 1959.

In the 1958 contest, he earned the victory for the East All-Stars, getting a hit and driving in a run.

And in the 1959 game, he hit an inside-the-park home run.

The White Sox were interested in signing Smith. It was even reported in 1960 that Birmingham's general manager, Arthur Williams, had announced that Smith had been sold to the Sox for $10,000. Smith was 5-0 at the time and had just struck out 15 in defeating the Kansas City Monarchs 2-1.

But the left-handed hurler signed instead with Detroit for $1,500, telling the Anniston Star in 1977 he felt he had a better chance to reach the majors with the Tigers, which had an aging pitching staff.

In 1963, while pitching for AAA Syracuse, he was dubbed Wonderful Willie, a reflection of his 14-2 pitching record and his .380 batting average.

When Smith reached the big leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 1963, he was among several active former Negro League players. They included future teammate Banks, a Kansas City Monarchs alumnus, and former Black Baron Willie Mays.

In 1968, the Cubs acquired Smith from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Lou Johnson.

Durocher said he didn't want Smith for his arm, but for his bat, since he needed a left-handed hitter. Nevertheless, Smith made his final mound appearance in 1968 for the Cubs, when he came in from left field to relieve Bill Stoneman, who was getting shelled by the San Francisco Giants, and not only pitched 2⅔ scoreless innings, but hit a 2-run homer in the top of the ninth of the 8-4 loss on Aug. 27.

Smith's versatility extended to the recording studio, when, in 1969, he contributed his vocal talents to a recording of "Pennant Fever" for the Chess label, with a group that included Ron Santo and Billy Williams.

That year, Banks wrote a series of articles for the Chicago Tribune, "The Wonderful World of Ernie Banks."

On June 15, 1969, Banks wrote, days after Smith had drilled a pinch-hit home run deep into the right-field stands in a win against Atlanta, "Willie had given us the lift to go on and win. What a guy he's been for us in the clutch, just like Al Spangler. You need fellows like these to go along with the regulars if you're going to win a pennant."

Smith stayed with the Cubs through the 1970 season before playing one final major league season with the Cincinnati Reds and another two years in Japan. He wound up back in his birthplace of Anniston, Alabama, where he died in 2006.

On his death, Cubs teammate Don Kessinger told the Anniston Star, "Willie was an exceptional hitter. But he also was an exceptional teammate."

szalusky@dailyherald.com