Talk:Hal W. Smith

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Infielder?

This man would be more properly labeled a catcher. I assume that someone invoked "infielder" to distunguish him from the other Hal Smith. There were two major league catchers who had that name in the 1960s. Maybe "catcher-thirdbaseman" as a compromise? WHPratt (talk) 12:55, 1 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I still think it's unfortunate to identify this fellow as an "infielder," when 73% of his career games were as a catcher, and he caught more games than the other ("catcher") Hal Smith.

(By the same logic, we'd label the second President George Bush as a "Governor" to distinguish him from the first, who'd retain the "President" label as a default.)

I think he should be "Hal W. Smith" and the other guy "Hal R. Smith", as they were listed that way in the N.L. batting statistics throughout their careers. The fact that both were associated with the Pirates means we can't use the team to distinguish. Alternatively, we coud use their lifetime dates or their career dates.

Hal W. Smith -- (1930-2020), 1955-1964 Bal-KC-Pit-Hou-Cin, 1960 WS hero
Hal R. Smith -- (1931-2014), 1956-1965 StL(N)-Pit, the other guy

WHPratt (talk) 14:27, 24 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

My thanks to whomever awarded these men their middle initial and granted both the honorable title of "catcher" (and not "infielder"). WHPratt (talk) 05:31, 21 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]