ghosts of smith-wills

They played professional baseball of some variety at Smith-Wills Stadium for 30 years, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that there are so many people with ties to the old ballpark involved in this year’s playoffs. Still … seven of the eight clubs, all except the New York Yankees, have someone in uniform who either played, coached or managed the Jackson Mets or Generals. (Sorry, no Diamond Kats or Senators involved here.) Players include ex-Generals stars Julio Lugo with St. Louis, Bobby Abreu with the LA Angels and Billy Wagner with Boston. Former Jackson Mets shortstop Ron Gardenhire is managing Minnesota, and ex-OJM Rick Anderson is his pitching coach. Former JaxMets manager Sam Perlozzo coaches third base for Philadelphia. Former JaxMets third baseman Dave Magadan, who played for Perlozzo on the ’85 title team, is the hitting coach for the Red Sox, and ex-OJM shortstop Tim Bogar is the first-base coach. Bob Apodaca, a former JaxMets pitching coach, performs the same duty for Colorado, which fired former JaxMets manager Clint Hurdle earlier this year. Last but hardly least, former JaxMets manager Bob Schaefer is a coach for the LA Dodgers.