A dream to play in the big leagues. A motivation to prove the naysayers wrong. A college scholarship ripped from his hands. A new home 2,000 miles away.
Texas native Daniel Smith has always dreamed of playing baseball. From the very moment he learned to walk, Smith had a bat in his hand and love for the game in his heart, thanks to his dad’s influence and the draw of the fierce mentality and challenge of baseball.
“I’ve got friends who think baseball is nothing more than you go out there, hit the ball run around the bases, sit on the bench and drink some Gatorade. But there is so much more to the game,” Smith said. “It’s the idea of hitting a round ball with a round bat, square, with less than 1.25 seconds to hit a 90 mph fastball or a 78 mph curveball. There are balls moving, sinking, diving, spinning, all kinds of different things that just makes the game so much harder.”
Since the day his father Vince threw catcher’s gear at him and said, “Let’s see what you got,” Smith’s favorite position on the field has been behind the plate. It is often ridiculed as the easiest position on the team, but Smith sees catching as more than just sitting down.
“You have to call the game, be in tune with your pitcher, run the field and block balls in the dirt,” he said. “It’s about being a leader for your team because everyone is looking at you. All the players face you, so you can’t show any negative emotions because the team is going to feed off that. You have to have a positive mindset the entire time.”
Smith’s determination earned him a starting varsity spot on his high school team. From there it was a matter of battling day in and day out to move on the path towards the big leagues.
During his senior year, the University of San Diego contacted Smith but only offered a partial scholarship, so he continued to play in hopes of getting another scout to look his way. Luckily, the baseball gods were on his side.
“In one of my games I was doing really well and at the end a coach came up to me and introduced himself and basically offered me a scholarship on the spot to go to Lon Morris Junior College,” Smith said. “Other than USD, it was my only option, so I took it. It happened to be a full scholarship; I didn’t have to pay a dime to go to the school.”
Smith moved three hours away from home to play in the small town of Jacksonville, Texas. Smith joined the all-freshman team who ended up setting a school record in wins and a record in conference wins, but unfortunately missed playoffs by one game.
Despite a successful season, a month after the semester ended Smith received one of the worst calls imaginable. Lon Morris was nearly $8 million in debt and cutting the baseball program.
Smith called everyone he knew, but there was no place for him to go; either most schools’ scholarship money was already allocated or team spots were filled. He had no clue what to do, “It was the middle of summer and I was stranded and freaking out,” he said. “But it wasn’t the fact that I didn’t have anywhere to play baseball; at that point it was the fact that I didn’t have anywhere to go to school.”
Then his cousin’s pitching coach, who played at Santa Rosa Junior College, told him about Damon Niedlinger and SRJC’s baseball program. Smith contacted Niedlinger and came out for a try out. As luck would have it, Niedlinger offered him a spot on the Bear Cubs’ team. So Smith took the risk to move 2,000 miles away to continue the dream.
Not every player makes it to the big leagues or even has the talent to play in college. Smith has the determination and talent to make it; he just hasn’t always had the support he needed.
Smith has always had the entire support of his father, but his mother Kim did not speak to him his entire freshman year at Lon Morris. When they did interact, it was to argue about the life choices he was making including decisions to accept his girlfriend’s beliefs in Jesus, a huge disappointment to his non-practicing Jewish mother. But it was Kim’s lack of confidence in her son’s baseball dream that bothered Smith the most.
“She told me, ‘Don’t even worry about it. Just go to school. You’re not going to make it anyway,’” Smith recalled. “You never think your mother would tell you to give up on your dream; I always expected her to encourage me.”
His mother’s disbelief is what pushed Smith to continue to play baseball and make the move to California. “The fact that my mom told me I could never make it is something that’s pushed me from day one,” he said. I’ve always wanted to continue to play baseball anyways. I would have done it no matter what, but just the fact that she told me I couldn’t, is what made me want to strive harder.”
Armed with a new motivation to succeed, Smith and his dad Vince made the 32-hour trek to California. With a U-haul attached to his Ford F-150, they were 10 hours away from SRJC when a Ford Mustang plowed into the truck and spun it out of control. The U-haul broke off and rolled three times onto the other side of a major freeway. The structure of the truck saved Vince’s life; any other type would have killed him or caused paralysis.
They had to drive the rest of the way in a totaled truck and a damaged U-haul held together with chains. But the Smiths were thankful that they walked away uninjured. Hours later, they finally arrived at the Santa Rosa apartment Daniel was going to share with teammate Bryan Webster.
“I knew he was looking for a place to stay and I needed a room close to school, so it kinda just fell together,” Webster recalls. “I really didn’t know anything about him except for the fact that he was from Texas. And that is what took some getting used to. They do things differently over there.”
California is a very different place than Texas and Smith noticed the differences right away, and not just with his roommate. Everyone he met seemed to promoted a type of “Nor-cal stoner” mentality that clashed with his strict Texan morals.
As the son of a police officer, Smith always makes sure he doesn’t forget his family’s values. His father’s stories about the people he’s thrown in jail and the stories inspired him to be a better person. Daniel doesn’t drink or do drugs and makes sure he does not end up like the guys in the back of his dad’s police car.
“When I came out here, I didn’t want to change who I was. I didn’t want to be a different person. No matter what got in my way I wanted to stay who I was. Proud to be a Texan, always,” Smith smiled. “No matter what peer pressure you’re going to throw in my face, my morals are as they stand and I’m not going to change that just because I am 2,000 miles away from home.”
Smith doesn’t let the distractions of college life get to him; he maintains the same fight he employed in Texas. In his first and only season with the Bear Cubs, Smith helped his team to achieve a 23-15 overall record, propelling the team into the CCCAA’s Regional Playoffs. SRJC lost in the first round to Diablo Valley College, but team members are proud of all they accomplished this season.
“When we lost that playoff game the first thing that went through my mind was, ‘I’m never going to get to see these guys again,’” Smith said. “We endured everything together and it came to an end so fast, I just wasn’t ready for it. I don’t want to leave. I want to stay and continue to play with these guys because I think we have an amazing team.”
Now that the season is over and his time at SRJC has come to a close, Smith is faced with a difficult decision about his next step in life. He will head home to Texas for two weeks before traveling to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to play for the Surf Riders, a summer collegiate ball club. Smith hopes to play well enough to get an offer to play at a university, but come next school year he does not know what his future will look like.
“Hopefully something good will happen,” Smith said. “I want the opportunity to continue playing baseball and finish my education. But come first day of school, I’m either at a university or back with my job at Nike in Texas.”
Despite the unknown, Smith is prepared to work hard and do everything possible to progress to the next step. “It’s something you dream about as a kid and hope comes true,” Smith said. “It’s one of the reasons I work hard every day, because I just want to make it.”
Whether Smith makes it to “The Show” or not, there is no denying SRJC gave his baseball career a new breath of life. Smith insists the move to California was the best thing to happen to him as it has made him a better player and competitor.
“The things that I’ve learned from my coaches, teammates and the adversity we played through is what’s going to give me that edge over someone else,” Smith said. “That is what’s going to get me further in life.”