Carl Reginald Smith was born on the 2nd of April 1945 in Shreveport Louisiana, His parents were Lonnie and Nellie Smith. His dad had played one year in the Negro American League as a catcher for the Jacksonville Red Caps. Both of his parents were capable musicians. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child.
Their new neighborhood, known then as Zone “61”, is now South-Central LA. It also had a lot of highly competitive baseball teams. One of them was led by Chet Brewer. They were called the Chet Brewer Pirates. Brewer had been a pitcher in the Negro Leagues.