A block away from the Hollywood Stroll of Fame on Wednesday morning, a once-overlooked Dodgers star embraced his personal newfound notoriety.
4 days after slugging the game-winning house run in Sport 7 of the World Collection, Will Smith was serenaded by lots of of followers at a Elevating Cane’s promotional occasion on the intersection of Sundown and Highland, taking a makeshift stage to chants of “We want Will!” from a crowd of Dodgers trustworthy ceaselessly indebted to his championship-clinching swing.
“To feel the love from all the fans, it’s just cool,” Smith stated. “It’s fun celebrating with these people, to see what the Dodgers mean to them.”
For years, Smith has largely felt that love from the shadows of the Dodgers’ star-studded roster — a three-time All-Star, a generational expertise at his place, but additionally an outshined member of the workforce’s big-name core.
That formally modified this week, after he hit the primary game-winning, extra-inning house run within the seventh recreation of a Fall Basic.
His identify has now joined the realm of October legends. His place in Dodger historical past, elevated to just about immortal standing.
“That’s crazy,” Smith stated, when knowledgeable Wednesday of the historical past his Eleventh-inning swing made. “I never would have thought that [would happen]. But yeah, just glad I was able to get it done for the guys, and for the city … The passion that these fans have, that’s what motivates me most.”
That sort of reply, in fact, exemplifies Smith’s default mode. Quiet and reserved by nature. Averse to the general public highlight. Completely happy to easily present up on the ballpark, deal with his taxing job because the beginning catcher on baseball’s greatest workforce, and sidestep the eye a participant of his expertise would usually command.
Dodgers followers wait to see catcher Will Smith at a Elevating Cane’s promotional occasion on Wednesday.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Occasions)
Such had been the fact of Smith’s existence with these Dodgers. Sharing a clubhouse with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, it’s been straightforward for him to mix into the background for a lot of his seven-year profession.
However then, final Saturday evening, Shane Bieber hung him a slider in a tied recreation with a World Collection on the road. Smith put a thunderous swing on it, pleading for the ball to clear the fence. And as soon as it did, his standing within the sport had immediately been altered. The Dodgers cemented a dynasty. He was the face of one in every of its most defining moments.
“Yes and no,” Smith stated when requested if it felt like his life had modified this week. “That’s a moment that will always be special. A very positive memory. In the first couple [World Series], had some big hits and stuff. But the game-winner is cool. So hopefully next year, going for a three-peat, we do something similar.”
Nothing, in fact, shall be as transformational as this previous week was for the 30-year-old backstop.
Had it not been for the heroic efforts of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Smith very simply may have received World Collection MVP, having led the Dodgers with six RBIs, trailed solely Ohtani with a .267 common, and caught all 74 innings of the marathon collection in one other Fall Basic file.
He wasn’t coaxed into talking on the workforce’s championship parade, however nonetheless obtained among the day’s loudest ovations, the fan base recognizing the herculean contributions he offered each at and behind the plate.
“He was the silent assassin,” Freeman stated.
“He’s an absolute animal,” third baseman Max Muncy echoed.
Smith did present a few of his dry humor throughout a Tuesday evening look on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, reeling off a couple of chuckle strains alongside supervisor Dave Roberts and some different teammates.
Then, on Wednesday morning, he received his hero’s welcome on the Elevating Cane’s occasion, with followers lining up alongside Sundown two hours earlier than his look with indicators and posters prepared in hand.
“It’s felt like a dream,” Smith stated.
One he received’t be waking up from anytime quickly.
Transferring ahead, Smith figures to be on the middle of the workforce’s future success, having signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the Dodgers in March 2024.
“This is pretty much home now for us,” the Louisville native and father of two stated. “We love it here.”
From left, Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández, Mark Walter, proprietor and chairman of the Dodgers and Lakers, Magic Johnson, former Lakers star and part-owner of the Dodgers, pitcher Tyler Glasnow, catcher Will Smith, pitcher Blake Snell, shortstop Mookie Betts, outfielder Alex Name and pitcher Evan Phillips are celebrated for his or her World Collection championship on the Lakers recreation Wednesday evening.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
As one of many youthful members of the membership’s All-Star core, his significance to the lineup will even proceed to develop, with Smith making an attempt to construct off a 2025 marketing campaign wherein he set full-season career-highs in batting common (.296) and OPS (.901) regardless of lacking most of September, and the primary week of the playoffs, with a damaged hand.
“To me, he kind of epitomizes a lot of the success that we’ve had looking back, in terms of our scouting process, our player development process, how well they work together, and then him coming through and having the impact he’s had at the Major League level,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman stated of Smith, who was initially a first-round draft decide of the workforce in 2016.
“Make no mistake, there’s going to be a lot of those moments for him,” Muncy added. “He’s going to be here for a long time. I’m exciting to see what he’s going to do for this organization.”
And to suppose, how disastrously totally different this week may have been if not for the opposite key play Smith made in Sport 7, getting his toe again on house plate after it had popped off as he went to catch a throw from Miguel Rojas with the bases loaded in backside of the ninth inning.
“I still don’t like seeing it,” Smith joked because the video of that second replayed on Kimmel. “They were replaying it [in the stadium], and I was like, ‘Oh crap, this is not good. We’re gonna lose right here because I can’t hold home plate with my foot.’”
“That,” Smith added as Kimmel contemplated the choice actuality, “would’ve stung.”
As a substitute, two innings later, Smith delivered a swing that can change his legacy ceaselessly — thrusting him onto a pedestal each overdue and long-warranted.
“For me, I’ve always tried not to do too much,” he stated. “Just happened to get it in the air, get it over the wall.”
One other modest reply, from a participant unlikely to go neglected once more.
