Hall of Famer John Smoltz was one of the dominant pitchers of his era. Smoltz joined forces with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to lead the Atlanta Braves to an incredible run from the early 1990’s to the mid 2000’s. His Braves teams amassed, 14 consecutive NL East titles, won 5 National League pennants and in 1995, won a World Series Championship.
Amazingly, during the run, Smoltz proved to be one of, if not, the most versatile pitcher of the day. From 1992-2005, Smoltz was 135-86, with a 3.10 ERA. He had 34 complete games and 13 shutouts. Ok, those are numbers you’d expect from a guy in the Hall of Fame. What you might not expect? Smoltz recorded 154 saves during that period as well. Oh, and he missed the entire 2000 season following Tommy John surgery. That injury forced him to pitch out of the bullpen for a time and Smoltz became the first player in baseball history to record 200+ wins and 150+ saves during a career. He is one of four pitchers ever to have a 20-win season and a 30-save season (Dennis Eckersley, Derek Lowe and Ian Kennedy). Smoltz and Eckersley are the only two pitchers with a 20-win and 50-save season.
Not bad for a Tigers’ prospect, who was drafted in the 22nd round of the 1985 draft, right? Smoltz ended up making Doyle Alexander the answer to a trivia question. Who was the guy Atlanta sent to Detroit for John Smoltz? Yup, Alexander. The first ballot Hall of Famer, 8-time All-Star and NL Cy Young Award winner, pitched 21 seasons in the Majors, with of course, Atlanta, also briefly for both Boston and St. Louis. Smoltz retired after the 2009 season.
ROAD TO THE BOOTH
One of Smoltz’s first forays into the world of broadcasting came in 2010, the year after he left the game as a player. He joined the Braves broadcast alongside Joe Simpson on Peachtree TV. Also that year, he did some games on MLB Network and also called some postseason games for TBS. In 2014 he was first hired by Fox. The network paired him with Matt Vasgersian in Fox’s number two booth. He also joined Fox Sports South to call select Braves games that season.
Just after the 2015 season ended, Fox bumped Smoltz up to the top booth alongside Joe Buck. Smoltz worked his first World Series in 2016, when the Cubs ended the longest drought in professional sports by winning the title. Smoltz and Buck have called the Fall Classic together ever since.
Smoltz also serves as a game and studio analyst for MLB Network.
WHY IS HE GOOD?
Just because you were a good player, or even a great player, it doesn’t automatically translate into an equally great broadcasting career. Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson and recently Jason Witten come to mind as tremendous players that weren’t good analysts. These guys may have been good interviews for reporters in their playing days. However, talking about a game you actually played in, seems easier to do than one you aren’t a part of on the field. Many have tried to varying degrees of success.
Smoltz has the rare ability of parlaying a fantastic Major League career into an ability to analyze what he’s seeing. He’s good at being able explain it in terms the audience can understand. There are few former athletes that “get it” the way he does. He combines knowledge, wit and candor into a broadcast like few baseball analysts can. His baseball resume gives him the credibility to make some of the statements he does. Whether they be about the game itself or a player or team.
Now, having played the game at a high level, sets you up for being criticized yourself. Meaning, Smoltz gets pegged for being a curmudgeon at times, lamenting today’s game and its stats and analytics. To me, it sounds at times like he’s frustrated with the way those numbers have affected managing styles and some players’ ability levels. In other words, he didn’t seem to care about his spin rate, he just knew how to get batters out, even the third time through the order. Smoltz didn’t care about his pitch count, he completed over 50 games in his career. I get it, that can grate on some, because the game is being played today under these rules and not being played “back in my day”.
It’s led many fans and some members of the media to wonder if Smoltz even likes baseball. The answer to that question is no, he LOVES baseball. How else do you explain his career? A competitor that had to reinvent himself several times as a pitcher due to injury. A prolific starter that was thrust into a bullpen role not by choice but out of necessity. Anything to help his team win, no arguments, no excuses and no regrets.
He’s good because when he and Joe Buck call a game, fans of both teams think he hates their team. It’s almost a badge of honor to achieve that level of success in the booth. During last year’s NLCS between the Dodgers and Braves, Atlanta fans were calling for his number to be “unretired”. They were upset because he was criticizing the team he used to play for. Dodger fans were equally perturbed because they perceived he was favoring the Braves in his commentary.
DID YOU KNOW?
Smoltz is good friends with Tiger Woods. The two have played golf together many times including once at Augusta National, during Spring Training. His manager at the time Bobby Cox allowed Smoltz to fly to the course and play a round with Woods.
“Tiger (Woods) offered to fly me up to Augusta like two or three weeks before the Masters,” Smoltz told PGATour.com. “There was a Sunday during Spring Training and he said, ‘I’ll have you back by 3 o’clock.’ And my manager let me do it. Nobody found out. I flew up there with Tiger and, of course, had the time of my life playing the Sunday (hole locations). All the pins that would have literally been in the tournament on Sunday. And watching that man play that golf course was ridiculous. I think I shot 76 (from the back tees) and he shot 66.”
Smoltz actually threw batting practice to Woods one time. When Smoltz was still pitching for the Atlanta Braves, Tiger wanted to take some swings off of Smoltz. During an appearance recently on “Golf Today”, Smoltz recounted the story of the day it actually happened.
“I just happened to have a rehab situation where everybody was gone from the park,” recalled Smoltz. “I said, ‘Alright Tiger, you can come and take four swings, pretend like it’s in a game, I’m going to be throwing like it’s a game.” And he took the batting practice.
“I was concerned back then about, not me hitting Tiger, I wasn’t going to hit him, it was just jamming his thumb or catching one, you know? With golfers, I was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ and obviously he’s so competitive, we play ping-pong, it doesn’t matter what the sport, he wants to compete, and it was a competitive swing. You know, when you think about trying to face a 95 mile an hour fastball or a 90 mile an hour slider.” Tiger claims he was 1-for-4 with a walk, according to Smoltz.
For his part, Woods believes that John Smoltz could play on the Champions Tour. Smoltz actually qualified for the U.S. Senior Open in 2018, but didn’t make the cut. Woods has been impressed by Smoltz’s game telling Golf Digest, “(I’ve) never played with an amateur who shot the types of scores that Smoltz did.”
CONCLUSION
While Smoltz may be a polarizing figure to fan bases and media folks, there is no doubting his abilities as an analyst. The fact that people have strong opinions one way or the other about Smoltz means he’s doing it right. It means they are watching and listening with enjoyment or scrutiny. They are locked into what he’s saying and why he’s saying it. I’d say that means he’s doing his job and doing it well.
SUMMARY:
Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz is making his mark on the sport he played in the TV booth. He’s opinionated, witty, humorous and a teacher of the game. His work and commentary have made him a rather polarizing figure among fans and media members. That means he’s doing his job and doing it well.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
