Backroads and Ballplayers #36
Stories of the famous and not-so-famous men and women from the days when baseball was "Arkansas' Game." Always free and always short enough to finish in one cup of coffee.
Arkansas Baseball Stories of the Year 2023: Smyly, McEntire, Wicks, Ward (1923) and Losing Brooks
A Look Back at 2023:
Game of the Year, Worst Moment of the Year, Play of the Year, Pitching Performance of the Year, Photo of the Year, etc. — Drew Smyly Little Rock, Arkansas, and Arkansas Razorbacks, April 21 in Chicago vs Los Angeles Dodgers
On April 21, 2023, Arkansas native and former Razorback star Drew Smyly made his fourth start of the young season for the Cubs. Smyly had been shellacked in his first start on April 3 in Cincinnati, but he had followed that chuck and duck session with two pretty good outings. He was the Cubs’ fourth starter and a five-inning guy. After three 2023 starts, he had pitched his 15+ innings, allowed eight earned runs, and his record stood at 1—1.
It was one of those Chicago Cubs’ afternoon games at Wrigley Field, chilly, windy, 30,000 loyal fans in the stands, and the loaded LA Dodgers in the visitor’s dugout. With Smyly on the mound, the Wrigley fateful were hoping that their Cubbies could score enough runs to overcome low expectations for their fourth starter. The Cubs’ hitters obliged with a 13-run onslaught, 12 of which were unneeded.
In the top of the first, Mookie Betts hit a tough-chance ground ball between third and short. Shortstop Dansby Swanson, maybe the best defensive shortstop in the league, would likely not have been able to throw out the speedy Betts, but third baseman, Nick Madrigal cut off the grounder and threw out Betts by a step. Freddie Freeman lined a 2—2 pitch deep to left center, but former Dodgers’ Gold Glover, Cody Bellinger caught up with the drive in front of the ivy. J. D. Martinez struck out to end the inning. Smyly had survived two hard-hit balls, and he had escaped the first inning.
Chicago scored two in the home half of the first. So far so good, but the Cubs had all the runs they would need. Sometimes without the fastball of his youth, Smyly was vulnerable and inconsistent, but occasionally, as he demonstrated in the second Field of Dreams game, he was masterful. This would be another of those magical days.
He struck out the side in the second inning and the first two in the third before a popup ended the five-K streak. Routine fourth and fifth innings, combined with a Cubs hitting show, left no doubt about the outcome. Smyly entered the sixth inning with a 12—0 lead, but the Cubs fans were on their feet on every pitch. He had not allowed a runner to reach first base.
Two more three-up, three-down innings found Smyly beginning the eighth inning pitching the game of his life. The previous inning, with the game decided, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts had replaced his cleanup hitter with light-hitting David Peralta. The reserve outfielder would lead off the eighth inning.
Peralta looked helpless on Smyly’s first offering and bearly made contact on the second pitch, a breaking pitch off the plate by a few inches. Baseball is a game that allows the defense to plan before each pitch, but with no runners on base, the strategy is simple. All ground balls go to first. Peralta’s desperate lunge had allowed him to reach the outside pitch and tap it weakly toward third base. As the ball trickled into the most vulnerable spot for a left-handed pitcher and a right-handed catcher, both reacted as if a perfect game was on the line. Indeed it was!
Smyly arrived first, grabbed the ball in his left hand, and began the full pivot required for the lefty to throw to first. Catcher Yan Gnomes arrived a split second later determined to save the perfect game. Gnomes leaped to avoid his pitcher but landed squarely on Smyly’s back. There would be no perfect game. Two outs later, manager David Ross relieved Smyly after 103 pitches. The Cubs “held on” to win 13—0.
Smyly is working hard this winter, bolstered by a good performance as a reliever late in the season and motivated by a 10 million dollar contract. He has a World Series ring, a memorable day in an Iowa cornfield, and an “almost” moment at Wrigley Field. Perhaps we have not seen the last of Drew Smyly. His performance on that April day was the most memorable single performance by an Arkansan in 2023.
Feel Good Story of the Year: Will McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas Razorbacks
June 7, 2021, was a memorable day for Will McEntire. His Arkansas Razorback baseball team beat Nebraska 6—2 to win the NCAA Regional in Fayetteville. Unfortunately, McEntire missed the group hug at the mound at Baum Walker Stadium. While his teammates back home were celebrating around the incomparable Kevin Kopps, he was pitching for the Duluth Huskies in Eau Clare, Wisconsin.
Despite being ranked as the No. 5 right-handed pitcher and the No. 10 overall prospect in Arkansas by Perfect Game, McEntire did not have any scholarship offers when he graduated from Bryant High School in 2019. Like a lot of youngsters in the state, his childhood dream was to be a Razorback. If he was going to try college baseball, he decided to follow that dream and walk on at Arkansas.
After a promising start in the Covid shortened 2020 season, ( 1—0, in two appearances, 1.13 ERA) McEntire was redshirted in 2021. When the 2021 SEC regular season ended the coaching staff found him a summer assignment pitching in a college summer loop called the Northwoods League. As the Hogs prepared for the trip to the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, McEntire packed for Duluth, Minnesota. He was 20 years old, 900 miles from home, and missing his team’s postseason. McEntire “could have” or maybe “should have” been discouraged, but somehow he turned the disappointment into opportunity.
While Kopps was working seven heroic innings of relief for the Hogs that Monday in June of 2021, Will McEntire was making his second start for Duluth against the Eau Claire Express. McEntire worked six innings, gave up three hits, and one earned run. He finished the summer of 2021 with five pitching victories, no losses, and a 2.59 ERA. He was named to the Northwoods League All-Star team.
Back with the Razorbacks in the spring of 2022, McEntire was inexplicably lost in the pitching plans. He did not make an appearance until Arkansas’ 32nd game on April 12, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out five vs UAPB. He followed his successful debut with strong outings vs ASU and UCA. From that point on he was a valuable part of the pitching staff.
He pitched six-plus innings in the regional the Razorbacks won at Stillwater, Oklahoma, and got the start in the second Super Regional game on June 12, at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the game that sent the Hogs to Omaha, he pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings and left with the Hogs leading 2—0. After North Carolina went ahead in the top of the ninth, Arkansas scored two in the bottom of the inning to send the Hogs to the College World Series.
On June 21, at the College Worlds Series in Omaha, Nebraska, with the Hogs facing elimination, the walk-on from Bryant, faced #25 Auburn in the biggest game of his life. McEntire pitched seven innings, gave up one run, and struck out nine in his first CWS appearance. In just over a month he had moved from a forgotten man in the Hogs bullpen to a victory at the College World Series. Link
Although the 2023 season ended short of another trip to Omaha, Will McEntire was a major part of the Hogs SEC Conference title. He tied for the most pitching wins, pitched the most innings, and was named to the All-Regional team in the Fayetteville Regional that Arkansas lost to TCU.
A fixture on the SEC Academic Honor Roll, he pitched one of only two complete games the Razorbacks pitching staff posted in the 2023 season and was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for the week of the complete game.
Will McEntire begins the 2024 campaign as a fifth-year redshirt senior and one of the most inspirational success stories in Razorback baseball history.
Rookie Arkansan of the Year — Jordan Wicks, Conway
My friend Tom boasts that he is NOT a baseball fan. So…when he called me the last week of July and opened with “Jim, you’re not going to believe this, but I am in Memphis with friends to watch a baseball series.” He was right, I could not see him watching a week-end of minor league baseball.
“Have you ever heard of Jordan Wicks,” he continued. I admitted that I had not, and he assured me I would soon hear of the Conway guy he and friends had gone to see pitch for the Iowa Cubs against the Memphis Redbirds.
I later recalled that Wicks had been a very good high school pitcher for Conway High a few years earlier, but I lost track when he signed with Kansas State. He was drafted 21st overall by the Cubs in the 2021 MLB Draft and started the 2023 season ranked as the Cubs’ 6th overall prospect by North Side Baseball.
When Tom and the Conway folks made their Memphis week-end, Wicks was on the fast track to Chicago. Although he was scheduled to get a start in Memphis, he was inexplicably skipped in the rotation. Perhaps, with the trading deadline three days away, he could be valuable as a minor league addition in a trade, and he might get a plane ticket instead of his regular pitching turn. That would have been a bad move for the Cubs.
Wicks had yet to lose a decision. He was 4—0 in 13 starts with AA Tennessee before winning his first two decisions without a loss with the AAA Iowa Cubs. His ERA was not spectacular, but he had what scouts called “swing and miss stuff.” If Conway folks wanted to see him pitch, they might make plans to go to Chicago.
After just over a month in Iowa and 33 innings of work, the Cubs called Conway’s Jordan Wicks to the major leagues on August 26. In his first two starts, he was nothing short of dominating. In his first outing, he went five innings, striking out nine, and giving up only one run.
He followed his debut with three more victories and a no-decision. After 22 innings in the big leagues, Jordan Wicks was 3—0 with a 1.99 ERA.
Wicks seemed to tire in the last three weeks of the season. He lost his first game of the season at any level on September 17 and finished the season with a major league record of 4—1 with a 4.41 ERA. Officially, Wicks has not lost his major league rookie status, but his 2023 debut was the outstanding performance by an Arkansas in his first big league season.
Aaron Ward 100th Anniversary Player of the Year
Some of you may recall that I have written about Booneville’s Aaron Ward several times in the last year. I am convinced that he is the most forgotten exceptional player in Arkansas history and last season marked 100 years since his best season, 1923.
The 1923 season opened in the Yankees’ new ballpark on April 18, with an announced attendance of 74,000 and another 25,000 left outside. In the home half of the third inning, the fans got what they came for. A 26-year-old second baseman from Booneville, Arkansas, hit a sharp single between short and third for the first hit by a New York player in the new Yankee Stadium. Later in the inning, right on script, Ruth hit the first home run in the new park. Ward got a box of cigars for his inaugural hit, and the Yankees started the season with a 4–1 victory in what would become the year the New York Yankees began the ascension to legendary status.
In the fall, the Yanks won their first World Series of the 20th century, beating their cross-town rivals, the Giants, four games to two. Ward hit .417 in the World Series, leading the team in most hits, and fielding a ground ball to second to end the series and initiate a New York celebration that lasted for weeks.
Newspapers reported that back in Booneville, Ward’s friends and family followed the exploits of their famous favorite son. The “Arkansas Gazette” reported, “Every move of the World Series was received by scores of anxious fans in Booneville over the radio, and it is useless to say that every time our ‘Wardy’ made a hit or scored a run, the folks over in the next county knew it by the cheers.” Aaron Ward and the “Bronx Bombers” had reached the pinnacle of baseball success, but the summit of the baseball world is a slippery slope.
Losing Brooks
On Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, Hall of Fame baseball star Brooks Robinson, born and raised in Little Rock, Ark., passed away in Owings Mills, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore.
I will miss Brooks Robinson. I have written more words about Brooks than any Arkansas-born baseball player, but when we lost Brooks I could not think of any that adequately describe how this state, America, and this game felt about Brooks Robinson. He was our guy. He was one of the most outstanding players of his time, but unquestionably, he was a better person than a ballplayer.
He made us proud on the baseball field, but there have been thousands of good major league baseball players. Brooks Robinson was different. Baseball fans connected with him. There were very few Baltimore Oriole fans in Arkansas when Brooks played, but he was every Arkansan’s “second favorite player,” or “favorite American League player,” or some category invented to rationalize the way local fans felt about Brooks, despite the small obstacle that he did not play for their favorite team. Today’s generation of Arkansans recalls “he was my grandpa’s favorite player,” or “he was my dad’s favorite player.”
So many writers far better than I, have written their thoughts about Brooks. I love this description by the Arkansas Democrat’s Philip Martin.
Brooks Robinson is an ordinary-looking man who might have worked in a bank or sold cars but instead played a third base that defied logic and all physical laws. Like if Tom Hanks played basketball like Michael Jordan. The most amazing thing about him is that after about 30 years of living in his hometown, among people who know and have had dealings with him, I’ve never met anyone with a qualm or doubt about Mr. Robinson’s authenticity or generosity. He seems to me a living Boy’s Life cover, the epitome of decency and a hero of our country. – Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.