Roy Smalley | |||
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Shortstop | |||
Born: Los Angeles, California |
October 25, 1952 |||
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MLB debut | |||
April 30, 1975, for the Texas Rangers | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
October 4, 1987, for the Minnesota Twins | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .257 | ||
Home runs | 163 | ||
Runs batted in | 694 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Roy Frederick Smalley III (born October 25, 1952) is a former professional baseball shortstop. From 1975 through 1987, Smalley played in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers (1975–76), Minnesota Twins (1976–82; 1985–87), New York Yankees (1982–84) and Chicago White Sox (1984). He was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. His father, Roy Jr. was also a former major league shortstop, and his uncle, Gene Mauch was a long-time major league manager.
Drafted out of Westchester High School in Los Angeles in 1970 by the Montreal Expos, Smalley played college baseball for one year at Los Angeles City College, then transferred to the University of Southern California. He was part of the 1972 and 1973 College World Series championship teams under longtime head coach Rod Dedeaux. Smalley was named an All-American and received All-College World Series honors in 1973.
He was drafted four times by major league teams between 1970 and 1973 without signing. Smalley was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 35th round of the June 1970 draft, by the Boston Red Sox in the 4th round of the January 1971 draft, by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2nd round on the June 1971 draft, and again by the Red Sox in the 5th round of the January 1972 draft. Smalley was the number one overall pick in the January 1974 amateur draft by the Rangers. Following his junior year, he stayed out of school in the fall of 1973 to be eligible for the January free agent draft.