A few words from Jackie inspired this former MLB star for life

Imagine getting one of the biggest compliments of your life from Jackie Robinson.

That’s exactly what happened to Reggie Smith.

It was March 1970, and Smith had just taken part in the East-West Major League Baseball Classic in Los Angeles, a game organized by players in tribute and memory to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Smith, a 24-year-old All-Star with Boston, was there along with 23 current or future Hall of Famers either playing, coaching or in attendance, including Robinson.

Smith was 2 years old when Robinson broke the color barrier and made his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Even though Robinson did not play for the team once it moved west to Los Angeles, he remained an iconic figure for young Dodgers fans like Smith, who grew up in Compton, Calif.

“He was my boyhood hero,” Smith said in a phone interview with MLB.com.

He thought it wouldn’t get any better than standing on the baselines for introductions and having Robinson come out and shake hands with all the players.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen him up close, and he was bigger than life,” Smith remembered.

So imagine the feeling in Smith’s stomach a few hours later when he was seated on a plane heading back east.

“I was sitting in an aisle seat, and all of a sudden, I see Jackie Robinson getting on the plane and walking down the aisle,” Smith recalled. “He was coming toward me, and he ends up sitting in the seat right across the aisle from me.”

Smith, a seven-time All-Star, still gets giddy telling the story more than 50 years later.

“He’s sitting right there, and all of a sudden, I’m this little kid,” Smith said with a chuckle. “I’m kind of staring at my feet and saying to myself, ‘Jackie Robinson is sitting right next to me!’

“I finally mustered up the courage to turn to him and say, ‘Mr. Robinson, I’m Reggie Smith.’ He said, ‘I know who you are,’ and it was like, 'Wow!'”

Then came the moment that changed Smith’s life.

“‘I like what you stand for,’” Smith recalled Robinson telling him. “‘Just keep doing what you’re doing, young man. Baseball needs more people like you.’”

“That was one of the greatest compliments he could have given me,” Smith said, still moved by the memory more than half a century later. “I know who you are, and I like what you stand for.”

And what did he stand for? Smith was part of the second generation of Black stars in the game, and they had arrived on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement and the tumultuous 1960s.

“At the time, a lot of people thought I had the reputation of being a troublemaker because of the things that I stood up for,” Smith said. “Black players, we felt we had to be twice as good as a white player. Everything we had, we earned. Nothing was given to us.”

Hearing words of encouragement and support from a man of Robinson’s stature stayed with Smith throughout the rest of his 17-year Major League career and beyond. With one single interaction, Robinson impacted the way Smith would carry himself through his next six decades in the game.

“Jackie made it possible for us to even be in that position, and the only way that I could honor that was by honoring the things that he stood for and showing appreciation for the sacrifices that he made and continuing to fight for those who came after me, just as I came after him,” Smith said.

“We wanted to show we belonged, and like Jackie, understand what it meant to have the intelligence and courage and the character to represent not only the game of baseball but represent your family, your country.”

So when Robinson recognized Smith not only as a good ballplayer, but as someone who knew what it meant to carry on what he had fought so hard for a generation earlier, it spoke to Smith in a way that made him want to do it for those who came after him. After all, it was Robinson who famously said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

“I was trying to emulate him and carry on his mission and everything he stood for,” Smith said. “So yes, it did shape a lot of how I played the game and how I interacted with people in the game -- that was to always do things to maintain respect and dignity of how the game should be played.”

Smith’s career was filled with memorable accomplishments. He tallied more than 2,000 hits and 300 home runs, played in four World Series and won a championship with the Dodgers in 1981. As a hitting coach, he helped Team USA win gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But the moment he met Jackie Robinson will always stand above the rest.