BILLY ‘SLAPPER’ SMITH is enjoying his last season of baseball this summer. Smith (Wakefield High, Class of ’57) plays for the over-50 Massachusetts Warriors of the New England Legends Baseball League and competes in Cooperstown each September. “Slapper” got the game ball in the Warriors’ 13-3 victory on Aug. 5. (Courtesy Photo)
WAKEFIELD — Billy “Slapper” Smith, a Wakefield native and Wakefield High Class of 1957, is not only still talking baseball — he’s still playing.
“Slapper” is playing for the over-50 Massachusetts Warriors of the New England Legends Baseball League, which includes three teams from Massachusetts and six from New Hampshire.
Smith also plays in Cooperstown each September with the Legends of Baseball, which he started playing in 1993. His son Eric Smith and grandson Kevin Raymond join him every year for the family event.
Baseball has brought Smith to the Roy Hobbs Tournament in Fort Myers and internationally to places such as Cuba, Russia, China, France and Austria among others.
Billy says this is his last year of baseball and fittingly, his teammates gave him the game ball for an outstanding play in the field and for getting a hit and a walk in a 13-3 Warriors victory in Bedford, NH on Aug. 5.
The “old man” still can talk and play ball!
