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Pittsburgh Pirates Mike Smith (25) is mobbed by teammates following his tenth inning three-run homer against the Houston Astros Saturday, July 12, 1997 in Pittsburgh.
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‘Your home run gave people hope’: Mark Smith solidified a Pirates no-hitter and achieved cult-hero status

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‘Your home run gave people hope’: Mark Smith solidified a Pirates no-hitter and achieved cult-hero status

Two images hang side-by-side on the wall of Mark Smith’s home office in La Verne, Calif., each conjuring their own emotions and memories from the two most memorable nights of his MLB career.

One is a signed poster from Sept. 6, 1995, when Cal Ripken Jr. broke the consecutive games played record — and Smith watched it unfold from the on-deck circle. “Hey Smitty, what’s the scoreboard say?” Ripken wrote, referencing the numbers in the background as the Orioles legend celebrated.

The other features an iconic moment in Pirates history.

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On July 12, 1997, with the “Freak Show” in full force and 44,119 fans packing Three Rivers Stadium, Smith’s walk-off home run in the 10th inning cemented a combined no-hitter for Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon and a 3-0 Pirates victory against the Astros.

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The photo shows Smith staring toward left field, his demolition of a John Hudek fastball complete. Astros catcher Brad Ausmus began walking toward the visitors’ dugout, defeated. The camera click occurred moments before owner Kevin McClatchy and everyone else went bonkers, celebrating the Pirates’ first no-hitter in nearly 21 years.

Yinz

“It was such a cool atmosphere that night,” Smith said. “I remember after the game [general manager] Cam Bonifay handing me a cigar and saying, ‘Hey, this was big.’ It’s definitely something I’ll always remember.”

While it’s certainly not the greatest walk-off homer in Pirates history and might not even top the no-hitter rankings, at least among official ones, it did cement Smith’s status as a Pirates cult hero.

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In the first part of this Post-Gazette series, one designed to revisit iconic athletes and moments that are somehow equal parts unique and ubiquitous, we start with Smith, a first-round draft pick in 1991 who saw action with five MLB teams over eight big league seasons.


Less than two years before his walk-off homer, Smith waited on-deck when a banner was unfurled in right field at Camden Yards, a massive ovation ensued, and the game was stopped for 22 minutes, Ripken circling the field in celebration.

The Pirates acquired Smith from the Padres that March. He enjoyed the best year of his career in ‘97, hitting .285 with an .876 OPS in 71 games while earning much of his playing time as a pinch-hitter.

Smith was batting for Rincon that night when his thunderous swing turned a tense night into pure joy.

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“When it came off the bat,” Kevin Young said, “everybody knew.”

Added manager Gene Lamont: “It was a special year, but that one night definitely stood out.”

“The place went crazy,” Jason Kendall said. “It was one of those moments that I’ll always remember.”

The night was memorable, sure. But there’s more to the story of Mark Smith and his iconic home run.

‘We were hungry’

Smith grew up in Arcadia, Calif., about 20 minutes east of Pasadena, at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. As a kid, Smith played football, soccer and baseball, until a knee injury as a sophomore forced him to give up the first two.

As a high schooler, Smith struggled some with maturity and said he didn’t think he was ready to play college ball right away, crediting a stern talking to from Arcadia coach John Meiers for setting him straight.

“It was during practice,” Meiers said, explaining the conversation for a Los Angeles Times article in 1991. “He was dogging it, I got fed up with him, and I told him he didn’t have to worry about anything because he wasn’t going to have a future in baseball, anyway.”

Thankfully, Smith went the other direction at USC, blossoming into a consensus All-American and hitting .336 for his career.

The summer before his junior year, Smith really started to attract pro attention when he played for Wareham in the Cape Cod Baseball League. His .408 average was the first time a player hit over .400 since the famed summer circuit switched to wooden bats.

Smith’s time in Baltimore was met with minimal success — a .233 average and .682 OPS over three years — but a Jan. 7, 1997 trade to the San Diego Padres brought new scenery and a realistic shot at playing time.

“I was having a really good spring,” Smith said. “I remember [manager Bruce] Bochy and [general manager Kevin] Towers called me in and said, ‘Hey, we’re really trying to put you on this team.’ They were also trying to trade Rickey Henderson because Rickey was almost 40 at the time. They said, ‘If we can trade Rickey, you’re gonna get the outfield spot.’”

Alas, a Henderson trade did not materialize until that August. Smith was instead shipped to the Pirates along with Hal Garrett for Trey Beamon and Angelo Encarnacion on March 29, 1997.

“I liked the team,” Smith said of the ’97 Pirates. “We were hungry. There were no superstars on the team, no egos. It was just a bunch of young kids who wanted to win and make a name for themselves.”

The composition of the pitching staff is what stood out most to Smith about that year, plus what the Pirates were amazingly able to accomplish after offseason trades of Jay Bell, Jeff King and more. Pittsburgh’s rotation was anchored by Jon Lieber, Esteban Loaiza, Jason Schmidt and Cordova.

“We had four top-line starters,” Smith said. “They all developed into big-time pitchers.”

Smith then bounced around the diamond and cited Young, Kendall, Jose Guillen, Kevin Polcovich, Tony Womack, Turner Ward and Joe Randa as reasons why that group over-achieved. Together, the 1997 Pirates had a payroll of a mere $9 million ... but stayed in the race until the final week of the season, finishing 79-83.

“I remember playing the White Sox,” Smith said. “Albert Belle was making more than our entire team.”

Though he played just one game before June 15, Smith had started to carve out a role for himself, hitting .309 with an .879 OPS in 57 plate appearances over the 17 games that preceded his walk-off blast.

“Good dude, good teammate,” Kendall said. “We had a lot of those guys on that team, which is why we did well. The biggest thing baseball-wise he brought was another power presence: One swing can end it.”

‘Truly a great moment’

Young’s memories from that night remain crystal clear.

The sound of the crowd when he robbed Tim Bogar with an over-the-shoulder grab in right field to end the top of the eighth. The nervous energy permeating Three Rivers as Cordova’s night began to build. Also, the Billy Wagner fastball Young fouled off his knee in the ninth.

“It felt like my knee exploded,” Young said.

None of those, of course, hit quite the same as Smith’s home run.

Having known Smith since the two played against each other in college, Young (Southern Mississippi) would crack jokes about Smith’s burly physique ... and also the size of his feet.

“He was a massive man, but we’d tease him because his feet looked so little,” Young said. “I was always like, ‘How do you have this big body and such little feet?’ But he was a good guy, always smiling, always joking around.”

Smith put every ounce of his 235-pound frame into that misplaced heater, pausing a few extra beats to watch it sizzle into the seats.

“What, I wasn’t hustling out of the box?” Smith said, laughing.

“Back in our day, that was a big deal,” Young said of Smith’s pose, the one he has hanging on his wall. “The sound of it, you knew it instantly ... and not many balls made it where that one did, either.

“Then the smile on his face when he got to home plate and we were jumping on top of him, that was truly a great moment in Pirates history.”

So was Lanny Frattare’s call: “Scoreless game, 10th inning, 0-1 pitch, drive. Deep left field, no-hitter, home run, you got it all! Mark Smith gets it all, a three-run homer, and the Pirates win, 3-0. It’s a no-hitter, a no-hitter for Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon!”

It was beautiful and simple, a perfect summation of the moment.

Smith still listens to it every now and then and loves it. He has long appreciated the contrasting styles of Frattare and Greg Brown, the play-by-play men here when he played.

“Great people,” Smith said. “I miss those guys.”

At the time, Frattare remembers thinking about Harvey Haddix and the need for finality before it was officially a no-hitter. He was also working alone that night, with color analyst Bob Walk having accepted an invitation from Chip Ganassi to watch an auto race in Cleveland.

Although it was never a problem with Steve Blass, Walk, John Wehner or Jim Rooker, Frattare crediting his many color analysts for having done things right, it’s a recent trend — announcers screaming over magical moments — that Frattare is proud to have avoided.

“We all prepare to a certain extent,” Frattare said. “But I don’t think any of us want it to be scripted, and it certainly wasn’t for me. I’m glad that I said what I said. I’ve always been a broadcaster who believes in clear and concise. I never believed in dragging things out.”

‘Gave people hope’

Nobody needs to explain the magnitude of Smith’s home run to Kevin Tolan, who grew up in Swissvale and moved to California when he was young. Ironically, Tolan married a Pittsburgh transplant, with his wife (Beth) having grown up in Elizabeth.

Tolan had a complicated relationship with baseball around the time of Smith’s home run. The deconstruction of the Pirates coming out of the 1990-92 era frustrated him. A college pitcher at Citrus College and the University of Nevada, Tolan also saw his career cut short because of a shoulder injury and “went dark” on the sport for a stretch.

Smith’s homer and the excitement surrounding it was a big part of what brought him back.

It also led to an awkward-but-funny exchange between Smith and Tolan while coaching their kids in Little League baseball in La Verne.

“Our kids went to elementary school together, and we got to know each other,” Tolan said. “I would always think, ‘Man, he looks familiar.’ One day his wife said something about playing for the Pirates. That did it.”

His suspicions confirmed, Tolan wanted to talk about the home run with Smith but struggled to find the right time or place. Tolan also found it funny that Smith never uttered a single syllable about playing professional baseball.

“He’s super humble,” Tolan said. “He doesn’t talk about these types of things.”

One day, however, Smith let it slip that he played for the Pirates.

“I just kinda blurted out, ‘I know you played for the Pirates! You have no idea what that home run meant to the city. That was huge!’ “ Tolan said. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ I kept going, ‘No, I really don’t think you understand. Those were some dark times, and your home run gave people hope.’

“I still don’t know if he realizes the magnitude of that moment.”

Whether Smith does or not, the role it plays among their circle of friends — which includes several Pittsburgh sports fans — is nothing short of hilarious.

A digital Christmas card circulated a few years back that featured Smith’s homer. Tolan supplies his Little League teams with their own uniforms, ensuring they’re always the Pirates, and they call Smith’s son Madden “Mad Dog,” a reference to Bill Madlock.

“The Pirates have become an institution out here,” said Tolan, whose championship teams build a gigantic pirate ship to use in the local Fourth of July parade.

These days, Smith works in the produce business. He’s the director of sales for The Oppenheimer Group, which is owned by Dole, and spends his time obsessing over the growth, sales and marketing of avocados and tomatoes.

During the tail end of his playing days, Smith also had a brief cameo as a hero. After homering twice for the Marlins in a July 2, 2000 game at Montreal, Smith was driving home with roommate Brad Penny when the car in front of them veered off the freeway and into a ramp, catching fire.

The two stopped. Smith helped pull the man through the window, dragging him out of the car and earning the Steve Palermo Award for heroism from the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.).

“I certainly wouldn’t put myself on the same page as Steve Palermo,” Smith said of the former MLB umpire who was shot while intervening in an altercation outside of a Dallas restaurant in 1991.

Smith and his wife, Jennifer, have four boys who all play or have played baseball, ranging in ages from 11 to 18. Asked how aware his kids are of his iconic home run, Smith flashed the same sense of humor and ability for a quick pop that endeared him to teammates and Pirates fans alike.

“Not as aware as I’d like them to be,” Smith said. “When I get them out on the field, they don’t exactly listen to what I tell ’em. Maybe this story and some publicity will help.”

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG

First Published: November 19, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: November 20, 2023, 4:43 p.m.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Mike Smith (25) is mobbed by teammates following his tenth inning three-run homer against the Houston Astros Saturday, July 12, 1997 in Pittsburgh.  (AP)
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