St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 33

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 1996 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SPORTS 5D BASEBALL: FAREWELL TO OZ Praise Thrown I mith's Way By mirina Mates i r.V'ii it w.v.'. i f. V-i i i 4 I JfU. ft il If you think of St.

Louis, you think of him. 77 BRIAN JORDAN on Ozzie Smith i "5 'J I s.i.-Ji. By Mike Eisenbath Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Willie McGee felt the emotion at Ozzie Smith's announcement Wednesday afternoon that he will retire from baseball after this season. But a few hours later, after the Cardinals' 3-2 victory over the Phil-. lies, reality reminded McGee that his best friend in baseball still will be around to needle him and talk with him and play shortstop whenever the opportunity arises.

Watching Smith head for the shower, McGee said, "He's not dead yet." Smith's teammates passed out the accolades anyway. As much as they wanted to celebrate their fifth consecutive victory and all the heroic work that went into it, the Cardinals couldn't stop thinking about Smith's news. And with the news came the emotional tugs. "As long as he's not going to read the paper and see this I'll tell you: Growing up as a kid, he was always my favorite player," pitcher Andy Benes said. "It's been in the back of my mind that I'd love to go and play with him for a little while.

That's part of the reason I came here." Brian Jordan said: "If you think of St. Louis, you think of him." But once Cardinals players got to St. Louis, they found more than the world's most-gifted, greatest shortstop. "I feel very lucky to even have had the chance to meet him and be around him," Mark Sweeney said. "But he's more of a friend than a teammate.

He's an incredible person. He lends most of his time to other people. "He's special not for his talent, because his talent speaks for itself. He's special as a person." Jordan said: "He's like a big brother to me. He's taught me a lot on and In the Cardinals' clubhouse, Ozzie Smith reads a passage in a J.B.

ForbesPost-Dispatch Bible presented him at his retirement news conference. "I'm darn glad he's staying with us the rest of the year." Several players felt that by Smith choosing to announce his decision in this way, fans and players throughout baseball will get the reward of remembering him fittingly. "He's the best and deserves that people show him that," Phillies third baseman Todd Zeile said. "I'm glad he's going out this way, with the Cardinals, rather than being moved around with other teams." McGee said Smith didn't discuss his plans in advance, but he knew what was going through Smith's mind. McGee said he won't retire the same way, instead will choose a now-you-see-me-now-you-don't style.

But, he said, Smith deserves the time to say goodbye. "It's a good move, considering the "Coming up, you think that just playing next to him would be great," Alicea said. "After you do it for a while, you get very comfortable. And then you notice how great it really is. "He always kept everybody in the game.

That starts in practice, the way he went about his business, and that carried on into the game." Smith has fielded thousands upon thousands of pregame ground balls. He has worked the double play relay to such perfection that he will throw to the second baseman without looking. The younger Phillies watched him doing just that in amazement Tuesday. "The best way I can describe Ozzie," Alicea said, "is that he's a guy with a lot of God-given talent but he's been able to keep those tools very, type of person he is and what he's done for the game," McGee said. "He can get his just due.

It would have been a sin if he had not announced it until the last minute and couldn't be recognized in every city for what he has done." Zeile played on the same squad as Smith for five years, a few of those at third base. "I'll be proud to tell my grandkids that I played next to him," Zeile said. "Even at the tail end of his career, he did things that were amazing at shortstop. It was the little things that were most amazing." Alicea seconded that thought. He has played almost 400 games with the Cardinals since 1988, most of them at second base alongside Smith.

Only Tom Herr suited up more often next to Smith. was a shortstop. He began researching Smith, reading all he could find about him. He concluded that Smith was "a great man and not just a great ballplayer. I liked the kind of person he was off the field." Although Clayton said he and Smith only occasionally discuss the Clayton Says Smith's Announcement 'Really Doesn't Affect Me' art of their shared position, he learns from him nonetheless.

"I watch him, especially how he prepares himself for a game," Clayton said. He also acknowledged that the two of them now might feel more inclined to get together and talk baseball. roy cm have kin Save up to 70 on now Barry Sells Direct to you the same top quality clothing we've been making for high priced men's stores since 1898. At Barry's we promise you'll find the same fine fabrics, By Bill Coats Post-Dispatch Assistant Sports Editor Relaxing alone on a couch in a quiet Cardinals clubhouse about an hour before Wednesday afternoon's Royce Clayton looked up quickly when several television cameras burst into the room. "What's going on?" Clayton asked of no one in particular.

When informed by a reporter that just moments earlier, Ozzie Smith had announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season, Clayton's eyes opened wide and he murmured a soft "Oh." Smith's powerful presence has loomed over Clayton since he was traded to the Cardinals on Dec. 14 for pitchers Allen Watson, Rich DeLucia and Doug Creek, and infielder Chris Wimmer. Smith, 41, has put together Hall of Fame numbers in 18 major-league seasons. Many consider him the best shortstop in the history of the game. In St.

Louis, fans adore him, both for his on-the-field ability and his off-the-field civic contributions. He is, by any standard, one of the most popular players ever to wear the birds-on-bat on his chest. Into this environment wandered Clayton, also a shortstop by trade, only 26 and with only three big-league seasons on his resume. For the first time in his 15 seasons with the Cardinals, Smith was facing the prospect of being a part-time player. New manager Tony La Russa fu "I I'm glad he's going out this way, with the Cardinals .91 TODD ZEILE on Ozzie Smith off the field.

I look up to him. I almost want to be like him. "He's a Hall-of-Famer, as a player and as a person. It's been an honor to play with him. I wish I could retire with him." Don't worry, Cardinals fans.

Jordan will stick around. For one thing, he's made Smith some promises about trying to make a few more acrobatic defensive plays. Smith has been Jordan's example in that way. The Cardinals still look for Smith to pull off the unexpected. "He amazes you every time he goes out there to play," Sweeney said.

"He definitely could play this year and next year. But I think we all want him to go out his way." Almost to a man, the Cardinals felt slightly saddened by the news, yet caught off-guard only by the timing. "It took me by surprise," Luis Ali-cea said. "I knew this might be his last year. But when I first heard about it being today, I couldn't believe it.

Then, I thought maybe he was retiring right away. I thought he might be going home and not coming back. eled the fire early, declaring that he would start the best player, period; no sentiment allowed. He determined in spring training that Clayton was the best player; Smith disagreed. During the season, Smith and Clayton have talked one-on-one only sparingly; observers said their relationship could be described as uneasy.

Smith insisted otherwise: "Royce and I haven't had a bad relationship You can't really fault him for going out there and doing what he does." Recently, almost 3,000 Post-Dispatch readers responded to this question: Whom would you like to see move to second base Royce Clayton or Ozzie Smith? Overwhelmingly, Smith was the choice at shortstop; shove Clayton over to second, they said. So, Clayton is hardly the shortstop by acclamation, though he is La Rus-sa's obvious choice. One might assume that Smith's announcement Wednesday would lift tons of concern from Clayton's shoulders and psyche, smoothing things for him. Assume otherwise. An obviously underwhelmed Clayton showed little reaction to the news, saying simply: "It really doesn't affect me.

I just come to the stadium every day and try to do my job." He pushed aside the notion that the situation this season has heaped on pressure. "There's pressure all the world." The marriage of Smith and the St. Louis community began Feb. 11, 1982, when the Cardinals sent temperamental shortstop Garry Temple-ton to San Diego for Smith. "I admire him for doing what he does," Webster Groves native Margaret Karleskint said.

"I call it inspiration." After various media outlets confirmed the news, the grapevine quickly twisted to discussion of issues such as Smith's timing for the announcement, his future with the organization and his place in Cardinals' lore. Many fans cited Smith's relegation to backup shortstop behind Royce Clayton as the reason for the retirement. After a season shortened by elbow surgery, Smith has only 67 at-bats through 69 games. "I don't think you can just sit there and watch someone play your position," said Vic Camenzind, a Cardinal devotee since 1938. "I hoped he'd move to second base, but regardless of what he does, he's a class act and we're with him no matter what." Smith said at the news conference that he had been considering retirement for the last couple seasons.

St. Louis baseball fans have seen the signs, too. Few expressed any surprise at the news. "We've been waiting for it for a long time," said Mitchell Tennell, a beer vendor at Busch Stadium. "It's quality features and styles you will see in this easons designer clothing costing hundreds more.

Only Barry can offer quality, style and service at unbeatable savings! very sharp with a great work ethic. McGee said the news really hasn't yet completely sunk in. But thinking ahead to Sept. 28, the day the Cardinals plan to retire Smith's uniform No. 1 on the final weekend of the regular season at Busch Stadium, McGee understood the need to savor every moment with his friend.

These somber thoughts followed one of the most exciting games of the season for the first-place team in the National League's Central Division. "As exciting as the game turned out to be that's as exciting as we've had all year, with all the heroes," Cards manager Tony La Russa said. "But if anything could top it, it would have to be Ozzie's announcement." Although they are hardly best pals, Clayton has lost none of his respect for Smith's talents. When asked if he concurred with those who call Smith the best shortstop ever, Clayton unhesitatingly responded, "Yep." No question? "No question." Mens Barry's Sale Price tuT' $QQ95 $89 $200 compare AQ95 $275 I Aaw compare tfne at $250 Pure "I compare at $400 $1 46 95 95 FREE compare Cotton $49 BOX PLEAT DESIGNS $1095 $3395 compare at $80 $13 compare at $24.95 55 UP 38-64 Long 40-54 Short 36-52 SERVICE HOURS: SUN. 12-5 MON-THURS.

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Clayton who launched an upper-deck homer in his first at-bat Wednesday, barely 90 minutes after Smith's news conference has started 54 games and played in 60 overall. He is batting .269, with three homers and 17 runs batted in. He has been solid at times spectacular in the field; he has nine errors. Smith has appeared in 22 games, starting 15; he didn't play Wednesday. He is batting .243 with no homers and seven RBIs.

He has two errors. The fact that Clayton now is the "official" heir apparent to Smith drips with irony. Clayton was a young third baseman in Inglewood, when his father took him to a Dodgers game in the early '80s. The opponents were the Cardinals. "Ozzie caught my eye, and I couldn't take my eyes off him," Clayton said in a January interview with the Post-Dispatch.

"I just sat there and watched everything he did. I told my dad, 'It seems like he moves before the ball's even "He had this intensity level, but at the same time, you could tell he was having fun." From that day on, Royce Clayton just a matter of the new guard moving in and the old guard moving out." Mark Lamping's assurance that Smith would be involved with the organization for at least 10 more years was comforting to those who feel the Cardinals can continue to benefit from Smith's presence off the field. Although his responsibilities with the team have not been defined, popular opinion at the ballpark Wednesday had Smith cast into a public relations role or one involving player development. "He'll help the young players a lot with his experience," said Carlton Estes of Maryville, III, a Cardinals follower for more than 50 years. Fans are left pondering where Smith should be regarded among the game's finest.

"I'd just say he'll be remembered as the greatest, most acrobatic shortstop in modern times," said Melvin Jacobi of Palmyra, a Cardinals fan for 60 years. And, now that his career has attained a sense of closure, debate looms on which play was, in fact, Smith's greatest. "The 1985 home run in the playoffs against the Dodgers off Tom Niedenfuer," bleacher occupant Russ Deidiker said matter-of-factly. "The flips," 15-year-old David Lil-lard of Chester, 111., said, concerning Smith's home-opener routine, "because they just get you going." Busch Is Abuzz With Talk Of Ozzie SPORT COATS 6995 SPORT COATS A $79 rt! Ss Service on 7 I Alterations I iwlth No RushS CUSUAL, REGULAR AND WRINKLE SLACKS INCLUDES NEW 3 PLEAT, 4 PLEAT SLACKS CUSUAL SHIRTS WE STOCK Reg. 36-64 LONG 1 unaroe r- I By Jason M.

Stallman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Cardinals fans did not have to wait for the video montage or Osborne Earl Smith's pregame salute to the crowd at Busch Stadium on Wednesday to find out that the shortstop will wear a Cardinal uniform for only 48 more regular-season home games. In fact, many fans filing into Busch Stadium were reflecting upon Smith's career before he even completed the news conference at which he announced his retirement. "I think it's been a foregone conclusion for some time that this is Ozzie's last year," said John Brauck-sieker, a Cardinals fan for over 30 years, on his way into the game with his son. "Personally, I think it's been drawn out a little too much, but the timing is never good for a retirement." Chatter about the announcement resonated around Stan Musial's statue, inside the gates to Homer's Landing and throughout the bleachers, filled with the regular early arrivals. "We heard it on the radio this morning," said Matt Freeze, 14, who occupied a spot in Homer's Landing with his friend, Mike Levin.

"So we thought we'd come out. It's kind of like we're paying our respect to him." Suddenly the afternoon took on a "Tribute to Ozzie" mood among Cardinal fans, whom Smith called "undoubtedly the greatest sports fans in PRICE QUALITY STYLE ONLY AT Ametica'b Sett Vtmb Bridgeton, MO 12478 St. Charles Rock Rd. (314) 739-1209 FREE LAY WAY St" LUiS M0 Fa'rV'eW Heights, IL r-Htt LAY-A-WAY 4151 Lindell Blvd. 5 Ludwig Dr.

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