The Smoltz Brigade

With John Smoltz making his Red Sox debut tonight, I thought this would be worth posting -- I saw Smoltz pitch for the Richmond Braves (AAA) almost exactly 21 years ago, in July of 1988. He gave up a run in the first inning following a leadoff walk, lost a tough 1-0 decision to the Syracuse Chief (Toronto's AAA entry). Lonnie Smith was the Braves' cleanup hitter and Jeff Blauser was their shortstop. According to this source, the team also included (at one time or another) Ron Gant, Dave Justice, Tommy Greene and Derek Lilliquist, all of whom had respectable MLB careers, but I don't recall if any of them appeared in that game in July when John Smoltz recorded his 100th strikeout of the season. For whatever reason, I snapped the above picture from my seat a few rows behind the 3B (visitors) dugout. I obviously didn't have my flash with me that night, or perhaps had the aperture set wrong. Remember those?

Smoltz was a brash 21-year-old that season, and I also saw him in a television interview at another point that season where he came off as somewhat in love with himself. He's also had some rough spots in his personal life (although I have no knowledge of unexplained absences from work due to trips to Argentina), but he's obviously matured and today strikes me as a pretty classy guy with a strong work ethic, and, I would say, likely on his way to Cooperstown. It's great to welcome him to Boston for what will hopefully be a productive "twilight of his career."