some excerpts
some excerpts
from Keikis' AP writeup
full text here..........................
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sp...38B?OpenDocument&Headline=Text of Ozzie Smith's%20Hall%20of%20Fame%20induction%20speech
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EXCERPTS:
``Ozzie Smith was a boy who decided to look within, a boy who discovered that absolutely nothing is good enough if it can be made better, a boy who discovered an old-fashioned formula that would take him beyond the rainbow, beyond even his wildest dreams,''
``I sincerely believe that there is nothing truly great in any man or woman, except their character, their willingness to move beyond the realm of self and into a greater realm of selflessness,'' Smith said before reading a poem he dedicated to Buck, a lover of poetry whose memorable call of Smith's game-winning home run against Niedenfuer and the Dodgers in the 1985 playoffs urged fans to 'Go crazy.'
``Giving back is the ultimate talent in life,'' Smith said, calling it the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. ``That is the greatest trophy on my mantel.''
He revealed how he became such a deft fielder. Money was scarce while he was growing up in Watts in Los Angeles, and Smith's first glove was a paper bag. That helped him practice getting rid of the ball quickly.
He also would lie on the floor of his house, close his eyes, and toss a baseball in the air, then catch it without looking up. He even tried to throw a baseball over the roof, then run around and catch it.
``No, I never caught it,'' he said with a smile. ``But it never stopped me from trying. Luckily, I didn't just experience the dream for a moment and then dismiss it as foolishness.''
Smith said his journey took shape one day when he was 12 while sitting on the front steps of his home.
``I remember I was exhausted from playing yet another game,'' he said. ``I let the dream come into the playground of my mind. I embraced it. If you wonder how Ozzie Smith still came this far and reached the equivalent of the Mount Everest of baseball, this is how it was done.''
