Tal Smith is a longtime baseball executive who was instrumental in the formation of the Colt .45s and Houston Astros. He also was a key figure in the completion of the Astrodome. In Part 2 of a 2-part series, we discuss how he rebuilt the Astros into a playoff contender; what goes into making a trade; and an inside look at the arbitration process, among other behind the scenes looks from his illustrious baseball career.
Welcome and thank you for joining us today on the Heroes and Icons podcast. I'm your host, Greg Randolph. Please find me on Instagram at Heroes and Icons Podcast and on Twitter at Heroes icons Pod. Please rate, share and review the show. And thank you for doing so.
Once more, we have a special guest with us today. I'm honored again to have longtime and revered baseball executive Houston Astros Hall of Famer, Class of 2022 Tal Smith on the Heroes and Icons podcast today. Our show is brought to you by my friends at Houston City Beat, and there's just something about that beat. They can be found on Facebook at Houston City Beat or on the web at houstoncitybeat.com.
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GR: How are you, Tal? I hope traffic was a lot better for you today coming in?
TS: I'm fine, Greg. Nice to visit with you again.
GR: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, thank you very much for being on the show with me a second time. And this is part two of a two-part episode with Mr. Smith. So here we go. Well, let me start, let me -please allow me to jump back to the New York Yankees days from 1973 to 1974. And so, so my question here is, were you able to see any of the construction on original Yankee Stadium in those two years when you were there?
TS: Not really, Greg, By the time I joined the Yankees, and as I recall, that was probably November of 1973, and by that time the renovation was well underway.
I did know the architect, that the Yankees had employed that was working on it, and I talked to him from time to time, on occasion. He'd shown me something on the plans of it and so on. But from an actual construction or renovation standpoint, that was well underway and really didn't have too many occasions to get to Yankee Stadium. As a matter of fact, the only one I really remember is after we had made the decision to return to Houston, I packed up the family in our station wagon. And, we made one last trip up to Yankee Stadium to sort of say goodbye, you know, because if we had stayed, that would've been our future home. We never got to enjoy that. I love the Yankee legacy and, and it was an honor to work for them, but I never really got to work in Yankee Stadium.
GR: Sure. Okay. I knew that you most certainly must have officed out of Shea during those years,
TS: During the renovation of Yankee Stadium, as the Yankees had made arrangements, to play in Shea Stadium, to share that with the Mets. But we actually officed in the, what was called the Parks Administration Building, which was a short walk from Shea Stadium. And that was the offices that had been used during the World's Fair in New York, which I believe was in the mid-1960s, 1964, 65, something close to that. And that had been sort of the headquarters building for them. And it was just a short walk from there to the ballpark. And we would actually park our cars at the Parks Administration Building, go to the game and then come back to the office and, and so on. So, from an office standpoint, we spent time in Shea, but just for the ball games.
