I played baseball at Murrah High School in Jackson, Ms. If the name Murrah rings a bell maybe you read the novel or watched the movie The Help. The title character graduated from Murrah. Kathryn Stockett, the author of The Help graduated from Murrahten years after I did. Obviously very intelligent, she also graduated from the University of Alabama after I did although not by ten years. Alabama football was good, and I took my time to graduate.
Two of my Murrah teammates made it to the majors: Curt Ford and Mike Smith. Both first entered college ball, Curt at Jackson State and Mike at Hinds Community College south of Jackson. I got to touch base with Curt when he came with Jackson State to play Alabama. This ended up being his draft year and he was playing 2nd base. He played 3rd for us at Murrah. I did not run into Mike again, but next saw him on a baseball card.
I played with Mike when I was a senior and he was a 9th grader. He was in junior high (7th – 9th grade). In a school on the other side of our football field. Since there was no jr-high baseball, our coach petitioned the state to allow him to play. No dice, but they did allow him to practice. In the ‘70s most of us right-handed batters were high fastball hitters (what a commodity that would be today). The coaches would put Mike on the mound to get his throwing work during batting practice. And it was batting practice, not hitting practice. Imagine a guy throwing harder than your normal competition and almost nothing above the knees! Mike got 33 games in 5 seasons in the majors with three organizations, none overly successful. The Orioles and the Yankees also gave him a shot which should bear testament to him possessing a live arm.
I tell the players I coached through the years my version of the Curt Ford story and intertwine it with The Little Engine That Could. Curt was a year behind me at Murrah and he was very small, even for the ‘70s. He was our 3rd baseman his junior year and hit below .250. According to Dr. Jamie Morris, our assistant coach, Curt would often call and ask coach if he would come pitch to him. His senior year he exploded, hitting something like .475. The Jackson State head coach had a son on the team, so he often got to see Curt’s development, which led to a shot at Jackson State. After his 3rd season he was drafted by the Cardinals in the 3rd round. This was during the Whitey Herzog years when the Cards put a premium on speed.
His first two seasons in the minors, including 1982 with the St. Pete Cardinals, were very modest. An okay batting average but not showing to be a keeper in the low minors. His stolen base percentage was above water, but not good; he showed little power and never had a throwing arm that rated even average. At the ’82 organizational meetings someone in the Cardinal chain saved him and gave him one more shot. He went to New Orleans in the winter and got with Mackie Shilstone to improve his strength and conditioning. In ’83 with Springfield he blossomed, hitting 20 home runs, improving his stolen base success rate and maintaining a .290 average. He was on his way.
Even though I was a huge Twins fan, it was humbling to see this teammate, this friend, rotating in rightfield with Jose Oquendo in the ’87 series. I got to see him in spring training both in St. Pete with the Cardinals and Clearwater when he was with the Phillies.