Ozzie Smith was a defensive WIZARD! 

I was lucky to have grown up watching Ozzie play here in St. Louis. He's royalty here! In my opinion, best shortstop ever! The guy never had much power, but he was clutch. Quick story about Ozzie, I worked for a grocery chain here in STL and I was filling in at one store that happened to be the one where Ozzie shopped at. I was there for two days, he was there both days as well. The first day, of course I recognized him and made it a point to say hi to him, but didn't want to bother him too much. He smiled and gave me a wave and said hi to me. The next day, he remembered me and made it a point to say hi to me first. Great guy! He's one sports idol that I have never been disappointed by. Great human being!

As a Cubs fan who loves baseball played the right way and with freedom-I just couldn’t hate him. His game was the definition of how baseball should be played. Simply the greatest defensive player I’ve ever seen.

I watched all Ozzie's career from the beginning.......Undoubtably the greatest shortstop I've ever seen......HANDS DOWN!!!

THE 🐐 of short stops.

Every kid growing up playing baseball in the 80s wanted to be Ozzie!!

As a kid in the 80s, Ozzie is still one of my favorite players. If Ozzie didn't catch the ball, it wasn't possible to catch it. Even today, when I watch a game, I'll see a line drive that is missed, and just chuckle because I know that Ozzie would've caught it.

Smith, Coleman and McGee: that was baseball magic.

One of the very few players who got into the Hall of Fame based solely on his defensive skills. Brooks Robinson also comes to mind in that regard.

Creates magic and jogs to the dugout with his head down and shares his teammates congratulations with 100 class and zero flash. That's why everyone loved him.

I am a 44 years old, and Ozzie Smith is still the best infielder I have ever seen play the game. Period. Only a couple other players ever came close. Simple as that. Looking back at these old reels, I almost can't believe how great he was. Incredible.

Born and raised in MO. This man was a God when I was growing up. So much fun to watch. The play he made when he was with the Padres is still, hands down, the greatest defensive play ever made by a SS.

He was until the Springfield Mystery Hole

A lot of times I've felt disappointment as a baseball fan when I look back at the stars from when I was a kid. The defensive metrics we have now often highlight that defensive stars of previous years weren't always good defenders. Sometimes they were down right terrible. They could just make really athletic looking plays that fooled everyone. Not Ozzie though. A diving stop for most players is a regular groundball for Ozzie. And the ones Ozzie has to dive for? Most players don't even move for it.

I've watched baseball for over 40 years. People can argue about Mahomes vs Brady. Or LeBron vs Jordan. But in the specific world of baseball defense, I've never seen anyone better than Ozzie Smith. At any position. It's not even close.

If someone comes along better than Ozzie Smith defensively. He most likely will be an alien from another planet.

Makes me so happy to see talent like mason Wynn getting this kind of tutelage. Like look what happened in 1-2 years with Nolan Gorman. Wynn could be the next Ozzie with a canon and a 300 hitter

If I had no idea who Ozzie Smith is, this complication would not impress me. So, so many plays to choose from that are better than what’s in this video. This video doesn’t even begin to do Ozzie justice.

as a kid in the 80s in STL, I had two brothers and semi followed the Cards. But I don’t know if I’ve yet to witness the jacked up love buzz I could feel from those around me when his name would be mentioned. Adults, kids at school..wherever.

His vertical was crazy!

That last throw is ALL arm strength - in mid air. Ridiculous.

Grande Ozie 🙏🏽💪🏾

Que Clase de Shorp Stop pero la mejor jugada él pivoteo para Doble Play caminando por encima del Corredor

Love it. I have his wizard card.

Why would there be thumbs down in something so Positive?

Keeping it hundo to the onedo

A highlight clip of Ozzie and you didn’t include his best highlight. The bare-handed play from the funny bounce.

78 WAR almost purely off of defensive excellence is insane

Fernandez was very very good,but Ozzie was just great.

Bro ozzie was the jeter of his time

The cocaine cardinals were so awesomew

The wizard of Oz had no equal at shortstop

You can try to make an argument who's better but in the end in my opinion he wins hands down

He makes these difficult plays look easy. I bet the spoiled pitchers got annoyed on the rare occasion a ball got up the middle.

I want to see that ump take the field the same way Ozzie does.

Tony Fernandez was as good or better than Ozzie Smith defensively, but for a much shorter time. Fernandez was a superior hitter though. If you love baseball you can enjoy both of them.

Ozzie. Cal. Oneil?

Brandon Crawford makes these plays look average. Ozzie was overhyped. Good player with great public relations.

I was born in STL in 89. This man was an institution unto himself when I was a kid. Loved the wizard.

My Cousin got the moves🙌🏾🖤🖤

Ozzie made the whole squad better ...just by how he played ...so valuable to team

Lifetime Orioles fan and I appreciated Ozzie even as a youth but took him for granted, we had Ripken jr for 20 years, so you end up being spoiled. But now at 42, I marvel even more at the fact of what a tremendous athlete Ozzie was….. he doesn’t get nearly the shine as he deserves imo.

Gravity forgot about Ozzie on that last DP

That last one, my god!! Owning souls with that leap!

Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie

The jumping double play is my favorite Ozzie play of all time. In the old game guys were allowed to basically tackle the guy at second to prevent the double play, and Ozzie just glided over it and made the throw.

He had subpar arm & non-existent bat. But his backflips were good.

Casually doing back flips is insane

2:08😮 Incredible 😅

Can you still touch the plate that the runner is coming to and then leave it before the runner gets to it like that last jump play?

I watched him live at the old shea stadium! And he would take my breath away at some of the plays he made!

i knew ozzie by reputation but have never seen him play, watching this is is crazy

I can only think of one SS that gets close, Omar

This is when I loved baseball

In the last clip of the video, the runner heading to second base tries to block Ozzie with a slide, but Ozzie is able to make the play. After reviewing more closely, it appears like Smith steps on the to make the throw to first. The slow mo looks like he tap dances on the guy for playing dirty before making the jumping throw. tl;dr: did Ozzie step on the guy sliding at him to propel his jump at the end of the video? If so, that's great.

Best ever!

Play ball

He was really good, but Bowa, Conception, Belanger, and a couple of others of that same era were just as good defensively but didn't didn't get the same attention because they didn't do back flips and hot-dog it up the way Ozzie did,

The best Shortstop before Derek Jeter

He’s probably better than my rtts character

He definitely innovated the position