Billy Smith

Billy Franklin Smith (born January 14, 1930) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, outfielder, manager and coach. He threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed during his active career. Smith compiled a lifetime batting average of .312 in minor league baseball but he never climbed higher than the Double-A level.

Smith was born in High Point, North Carolina. He graduated from Jamestown, North Carolina, High School and attended North Carolina State University. He played in the Boston/Milwaukee Braves' farm system from 1950 to 1954 and from 1956 to 1960, spending his last three seasons as the playing manager of the Boise Braves of the Class C Pioneer League. In 1959, he managed Boise to an 81–47 record and a runaway Pioneer League regular-season title, and led the league in hitting with a .390 mark. But his club fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Idaho Falls Russets. (His Boise club would win the playoffs in both 1958 and 1960, however.)

Smith (right) as first base coach of the Toronto Blue Jays during a game against the Texas Rangers at Exhibition Stadium in August 1985.

Smith scouted for the Braves from 1961–66, then switched to the Houston Astros' organization as a scout and minor league manager at the Rookie and Short Season-A levels from 1967 to 1979. In 1980, he became director of player development of the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League, serving in that post for four seasons before returning to uniform as a Blue Jay coach under Bobby Cox and Jimy Williams from 1984 to 1988.