Ozzie on Mackie
Osborne Earl "Ozzie" Smith (born December 26, 1954) is a retired American professional baseball player who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. Nicknamed "The Wizard," Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National League Gold Glove Award for play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons. A 15-time All-Star, Smith accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career, and won the National League Silver Slugger Award as the best hitter at shortstop in 1987.—Wikipedia
Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith was in town recently for follow-up to his December shoulder surgery and to visit his longtime friend and sports performance management specialist Mackie Shilstone. Ozzie sat down with us to talk about Mackie’s effect on his career, and perhaps more importantly, his life.
How did you and Mackie cross
paths and what convinced you to bring him on?
I was introduced to Mackie
through a friend of mine in St. Louis who had met Mackie and had followed
the Michael Spinks move up to heavyweight.
So, when I was contemplating
trying to find someone I could work with who was going to understand
that I had to maintain flexibility, but still develop strength and be
effective as a defensive player, Mackie seemed to be the guy.
I told I wanted to play 3 or
4 more years, and I ended up with 8 or 9 more years.
What is it about Mackie’s
approach that helped you, i.e. what innovative or unique approaches
does he employ?
When I first started with Mackie,
it was pretty raw: You had your basic medicine ball, he had some boxes
for our plyometrics, but it was pretty typical weight equipment.
It was his integrity and doing
it the right way, his work ethic. The fact that he didn’t just tell
you to do it. When I ran, he ran with me. He ran me into the ground
is what he did. He was as committed as I was to the project. « More »
