Roy Smalley (switch hitter)

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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 right-handed. His father Roy Jr. is also a former shortstop who played in the National League (1948-58), and manager Gene Mauch was his uncle.

Smalley was the number one overall pick in Major League Baseball's 1974 amateur draft, selected by the Texas Rangers.

Under the ownership of Calvin Griffith, the Minnesota Twins franchise made few headlines in the transaction department; however, Roy Smalley's arrival to and departure from the Twins both involved blockbuster trades. on June 1, 1976, Smalley was traded to the Twins by the Texas Rangers along with infielder Mike Cubbage, pitchers Jim Gideon and Bill Singer and cash for Twins' ace Bert Blyleven and shortstop Danny Thompson. On April 10, 1982, Smalley was traded to the Yankees for pitchers Ron Davis and Paul Boris along with shortstop Greg Gagne.

Depending on the historian queried and era referenced, Roy Smalley was arguably the greatest shortstop in the history of the Minnesota Twins, competing against work horses Zoilo Versalles (1961-1967) and Greg Gagne (1983-1992).

Smalley was a member of Minnesota's 1987 World Championship team.

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. He now works for FSN North and helps with analysis of Minnesota Twins games. He also works as a stock broker for RBC Dain Rauscher

[edit] See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of second generation MLB players
• Texas Rangers all-time roster
• Minnesota Twins all-time roster
• New York Yankees all-time roster
• Chicago White Sox all-time roster

[edit] Sources

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Library