Another Ankiel

Well, actually another Brooks Kieschnick. Steve Turner brought to my attention the career of Willie Smith in reference to my article on Ankiel, who pitched 21.7 innings for the Detroit Tigerss in 1963, and in 1964 pitched 31.7 innings for the Los Angeles Angels and played 87 games in the outfield hitting .301/.317/.465 in 359 at bats. He gave up pitching in 1965 and was a regular for the Angels hitting .261/.308/.423 in 136 games. After that it was all downhill and he retired after playing in 31 games for the Reds in 1971.

He fell under my radar of 50 games pitched but he did make the transition at the major league level.