Otto's Pitch - Mark Smith

Mark Smith, the Canadian who chilled Southern California batters
By Bob Otto/ Yucaipa, CA Sun, 24 Oct 1999

He blew into Southern California from Canada like a bone-chilling, north wind. He had powerful biting pitches and the God-given speed that only the truly great fastpitch softball pitchers possess. Much like Nolan Ryan, when Mark Smith was "on", no one touched him. Including the great hitters of Southern California and the Western Softball Congress ISC travel league.

Along with his blazing speed was a touch of youthful wildness. Wildness that froze hitters in the box. Wildness from a 80-plus mph under-the-chin rise ball that made them creep back to the outer reaches of the batters box - for safety's sake.

There were two possibles when facing Smith: It was damn near impossible to
hit him, but quite possible to get hit by him. Hitters feared the possible
and came to accept and respect the impossible.

When Smith arrived in California to pitch for the Camarillo Kings in 1981,
no one expected the sudden transfer of power that was about to take place
in the Western Softball Congress. Sure the Kings looked good on paper. Sure
they had signed this 21-year-old fire-baller from Canada. But California
had fire-ballers up and down the coast.

This after all was the WSC, one of North America's most powerful men's
fastpitch leagues. The Kings appeared to be competitive, but the
establishment, the Long Beach Nitehawks, Lakewood Jets, Lancaster
Chameleons and Vista Bombers were still expected to rule - that is until
Mr. Smith arrived.

And Smith was tough. Downright menacing. Built more along the lines of a
linebacker at six-foot, 225 pounds, he was an intimidating presence say
some of the WSC's top hitters.

"You couldn't dig in against him," said Greg Sepulveda who played shortstop
for the Lakewood Jets and Lancaster Chameleons. "He was wild back then and
very intimidating. I got hit by him a couple of times. He had that old
pitchers mentality, 'if you dig in against me, you're fair game.' "

And the fairest of the game was the California slappers. Running up in the
box on Smith often got the slappers a closer-than-wanted look at his inside
rise ball.

"Terry Canale (Long Beach Nitehawks) was the first slapper I faced," said
Smith. "He wasn't a very big guy and in his case I used intimidation. I
threw pretty hard, so I threw rise balls up and in to brush him off the
plate. Once I got it into his head that if he committed early he might get
hit with a pitch, it threw off his timing and I was able to exploit that."
Translation: Instill fear. Jerry Hoffman, who played 12 years in the WSC
agreed.

"The hardest part? Overcoming fear," said Hoffman with a laugh. "He threw
so hard that you didn't dare dig in - Mark was very intimidating. I
remember a pitch he threw to Terry Canale. It was a rise ball in. Terry
ducked and it went right over his head. The ball hit the backstop and
bounced all the way to the outfield.

"In the WSC you faced great pitching day in and day out - Paul Magan, Kevin
Herlihy, Steve Schultz," said Hoffman. "Game in and game out, Smith was one
of the hardest throwers we faced. You either learned to adjust to his type
of pitching or it would destroy your confidence and make players run back
to the A and B leagues."

"I saw him throw for the first time at Joe Rogers field in Long Beach,"
said ISC Executive Director, Milt Stark. "He threw awfully, awfully hard.
I've never seen anyone throw any harder. But he had very little control. He
certainly went on to prove himself."

Smith certainly did, leading the Camarillo Kings to two ISC World
Tournament titles in 1981 and 1982. It was a brief stay in the spotlight
for Smith and the Kings, but during that time he put up some impressive
numbers. "Overall in '81 I was 34-5 and in '82 I was around 40-6," said
Smith. "I'm told that I went 19-0 in the World Tournament before losing,
but I'm not sure."

Nearing 20 years since his California experience, Smith looks back with
fondness at that period in his life and has agreed to share some of his
memories with us.

Q: Tell us about Southern California fastpitch when you came on the scene
in 1981.
A: Southern California in the late 70s until the mid-80s was the place to
play fastpitch softball in the United States. The WSC had a great
reputation for producing world-class teams and players. If you look at the
quality of the teams in the state and the success the California teams
enjoyed almost yearly at the ISC World Tournament, it speaks for itself.

Q: Many WSC batters have labeled you as wild and intimidating. Was that an
image you tried to establish?
A: I was there to make an impression and carry my own. My friend (and
teammate) Larry Nolan fully appraised me of the Congress and its great
teams and players. As a pitcher I always saw myself as the last line of
defense. Yes, I tried to intimidate and looked to see who I could
(intimidate), and it usually worked. I weighed 220 pounds and was six-foot
tall during my two years in California. I threw the ball hard and I was
effectively wild, which helped a great deal. I think hitters had a healthy
respect for me.

Q: I've been told that hitters feared you.
A: I don't know if they feared me, but I believe the pitcher has as much
right to the full plate as the hitter. A hitter has to be willing to 'pay
the price'. I pitched both sides of the plate and some hitters don't like
that. I didn't purposely try to show anyone up; however if I faced a hitter
attempting to show me up, then it became a test of wills.

Q: Any memorable 'test of wills'?
A: I remember one player in particular, Dave Garcia of Lancaster. Dave had
a habit of glaring at pitchers and would hit himself in the back while he
took his warm-up swings. I suppose for intimidation. He was the first
player in the WSC that appeared eager to test me. I don't think he ever got
a hit off me. He learned the hard way that I wasn't going to put up with
too much sh_ _.

Q: Facing California "slappers" was a new experience for you. Tell us about
that.
A: Slap hitting hadn't made its way to Canada yet. Terry Canale was the
first slapper I ever faced. I didn't like it because the slapper was
getting to the pitch before the ball had a chance to break, so it was a
problem for a short time. But slappers have to commit early; therefore, if
you move the ball around they have trouble.

A quick story: At the '82 World Tournament we were to play the Saginaw
Bolters on Friday night. Earlier in the week my teammate Corky Corcoran was
in the beer tent when my old buddy Kevin Herlihy informed Corky that if he
tried to slap against him, he might 'get one in the ribs'. Corky snorted
back, 'I'll take my chances, my guy (meaning me) throws a lot harder than
you do'.

Sure enough Kevin pins Corky after they fall behind a couple of runs. Andy
Konopacki was pitching for us, but around the fifth inning I got into the
game. To defend my guys, as I always did, I pinned a Bolter player and
Corky never had a problem after that.

Q: Tell us about this catching problem you had.
A: It was my first year in the WSC and I was having a heck of a time with
catchers. My pitches broke late which made reacting to the pitch difficult
for the catcher and for hitters. Catchers found it difficult to pick up the
(ball) rotation, and my delivery motion made it difficult to see the ball
out of my hand. Third strike passed balls were the norm, so I got used to
pitching myself out of jams.

Q: Was there a catcher you were finally comfortable with?
A: After I broke Tony Woods left thumb in the first game of the WSC, we
went through a considerable time finding catchers until we stumbled onto
Jerry Leavitt. Jerry got thrust into catching me in the finals of the
Lakewood tournament when Sam Triana got hurt. We won that tournament and
Jerry inherited the job and we went on to have more than a little success
together.

Q: Tell us about the leagues you've played in:
A: I played in three leagues that I thought were exceptionally competitive.
The WSC offered great balance and the upper teams were very competitive
with each other. Even some of the weaker teams were tough when their best
pitcher pitched.

I got my first taste of world class softball playing in The Norwest
League...Seattle Pay & Pak with Graham Arnold pitching. That Seattle team
was the forerunner of the great Seattle team of the 80s with Jimmy Moore,
Bill Boyer, Randy Burnside, Bruce Beard and Tim Wahl.

The Western Major Fastball League, which featured Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, was an extremely competitive league. The legendary Gene McWillie was a dominant force and future stars like Marty Kernaghan, Brian Sosnowski and Glen Jevne were standouts in the WFL. All three leagues involved many of the great players of the 70s and 80s era.

Q: Who were some of the great pitchers you faced while in California?
A: It's a pretty impressive list: Peter Brown, Cary Weiler, Bob Todd, Bob
Versteig, my good friend the late Paul Megan, Jay Bob Bickford, Ralph
Salazar, Rich Balswick, KG Fincher, Chuck D'Arcy, Jim Smith, Kevin Herlihy,
Steve Jackson, Chubb Tangaroa.  Just prior to my arriving in California, Pete Meredith had been in Bakersfield, so the history of attracting world-class pitching to California improved the quality of ball.

Players made the comment that to get out of Southern California to the
World Tournament was tougher that winning the World Tournament, and I found that comment to have some truth.

Q: Which hitters gave you problems?
A: Teddy Dominguez (Lakewood Jets) comes immediately to mind. I don't ever
remember getting him out. Steve Trigliatto (Vista Bombers) was a great
hitter. A few others had good success against me: Greg Sepulveda, John
Miller, Hice Stiles and Bob Aguilar of the Lakewood Jets. And Jerry
Hoffman, Jack Settles and Alan Rohrback of the Vista Bombers.

Q: Jerry Hoffman says that not having a change up was the only salvation
when facing you.
A: Jerry's correct, back then it was my power against their power. It was
man-a-mano and made for some classic confrontations. I didn't have a change
up and that is the one thing I wish I had worked harder on. If I had, I
might still be pitching today at the world-class level. The lack of an
off-speed pitch hurt me more and more as the years passed.

Two years ago I was throwing the ball very well, however I couldn't fool
the good hitter the third time through the order. I could get two strikes
on most hitters faster than most pitchers even today, but I couldn't finish
them off. The change up would have been the difference.

Q: Who were some of the top managers in that era?
A: Bill Hardy (Lakewood Jets) comes immediately to mind. Bill was smart and
understood the game. Dick Jacquez who coached Camarillo. Like Bill, he was
a player's coach; someone who played the game and understood how players
think. Tom Wagner of Seattle Pay & Pak. There aren't many managers that can
actually win a game with their strategy, but Tom could. He was the master
of deception and could get in an opposing team's head and create
opportunities for his team to capitalize on.

Q: Was there anyone in particular that had an influence on your career?
A: Jackie Newman, our pitching coach in Camarillo. I credit Jack as being
the person who got me over the hump and made me a legitimate world-class
pitcher. He had the best knowledge of pitching I've ever known.

Q: What other fond memories do you have of that by-gone era?
A: The California experience, as I often refer to it, was an experience in
life skills, and as a young black kid from eastern Canada I learned so much
more about life than winning softball games. I do a lot of public speaking
to young people here in Nova Scotia and I often relate experiences from
those years and how they helped shape my life. Doc Jones, Dick Jacquez,
Jack Newman, Larry Nolan and Floyd Lavergne shared their wisdom with me and
in turn made me a better person.

Q: What has changed since that time?
A: Opportunities like I was given in Southern California some 18 years ago
don't appear to be as appreciated for the "real" opportunity that it truly
is. Young gifted players seem to view the opportunities they are given as a
"right of passage", something that is owed them if they show promise or win
a championship.

Perhaps my age is showing, but I do think that the attitude of today's
players at the elite level is driven more by dollars and cents and less by
the spirit of competition and self-satisfaction.

As a young player I too took a lot of things for granted, but I've always
realized that my visit to California was a tremendous opportunity. Playing
there remains tops on my list.

(Mark Smith still has a major impact in the sport. He is the coach of the
Canadian men's national team.)