Roy Smalley (AL baseball player)

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Roy Frederick Smalley III (born October 25, 1952 in Los Angeles, California) is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball. From 1975 through 1987, Smalley played for the Texas Rangers (1975-1976), Minnesota Twins (1976-1982; 1985-1987), New York Yankees (1982-1984) and Chicago White Sox (1984). He was a switch-hitter and threw righthanded. His father Roy Sr. is also a former shortstop who played in the National League (1948-58), and manager Gene Mauch was his uncle.

In a 13-season career, Smalley posted a .257 batting average with 163 home runs and 694 RBI in 1653 games played. Smalley's best season came in 1979 when he was voted the starting Shortstop for the American League in the All-Star game. Smalley had a sensational 1st half of the season, entering the break with the 2nd highest Batting Average in the Major Leagues (.341). Though he tailed off in the 2nd half, Roy established career highs in runs, RBIs and home runs during his sensational 1979 campaign and was named the Shortstop on The Sporting News AL All-Star team.

[edit] Highlights

• American League All-Star team in 1979
• Led AL in sacrifice hits (1976, 25)
• Led AL in games played (1979, 162)

[edit] Sources

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Baseball Library