JUPITER, Fla. • His first day on the job this spring, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith spent time with an old teammate on the back fields and saw quickly one of the things he feels the Cardinals missed as their defense went wonky last season.
Jose Oquendo.
“If you’re a Cardinal baseball fan it was tough,” Smith said Tuesday of watching the team’s erratic fielding last season. “It was the total opposite of what we were accustomed to. Oquendo not being there last year was a big part of that.”
Smith is the first of the Cardinals’ Hall of Famers to appear at spring training in the instructor role.