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AN HOMAGE TO OZZIE SMITH’S EARLY DAYS IN PROFESSIONAL BALL

History: Eight years before the “Wizard of Oz” inspired Jack Buck to call on St. Louis fans to “go crazy, folks,” Ozzie Smith was drafted by the San Diego Padres. He joined their Class A outfit in Walla Walla, Washington, a member of the Northwest League. That single season was enough to earn an invite to the San Diego Padres’ spring training camp, where Ozzie grabbed hold of the starting shortstop position and never let go. The San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals legend would dazzle and inspire wherever he went, a figure as iconic as the Astroturf on which he ran, dove, caught, slid and – on rare and memorable occasions – flipped.