Former Rangers minor leaguer makes it big

By David Mullen

After years of laboring in the minor leagues, Alex Smith waited 25 years more to finally make it to the big leagues. And he has one of the best seats in the house.

The former Texas Rangers minor league infielder owns Rockerman of Texas (rockermanoftexas.com) in Justin. Anyone who has visited the state-of-the-art Globe Life Park in Arlington has been taken aback by the juxtaposition located in the mezzanine down the left field line. In front of the Karbach Brewery pavilion are a series of Adirondack-style rocking chairs, handmade by Smith’s company.

Raised in Piqua, Ohio about from 25 miles north of Dayton, Smith was an all-state selection as a baseball player in Ohio. He dabbled in basketball in high school, but at 6-foot and 180 lbs., he was the ideal size for a middle infielder.   

“Baseball was my escape,” Smith said. “I didn’t grow up with a whole lot. But I was an overachiever. Still am today. I wanted to go to a Big Ten school and play baseball.” The youngest of three children said: “I was the first in my family to go to college. I loved Bloomington and went there knowing no one. They took a chance on me.” He graduated with a degree in business that would pay off later in life. “I wasn’t the best student. I was a baseball player.”

As a freshman, Smith — who went by Mike before adopting his middle name Alex years later — walked through Assembly Hall at the noted basketball factory Indiana University. The Wall of Fame was covered with paintings of IU college basketball legends. The only baseball player recognized was first baseman Ted Kluszewski, who hit .298 in 15 major league seasons primarily with the Cincinnati Reds.   

“I had a career at Indiana I never thought I would ever have,” Smith said. “When I arrived at Indiana, those were the years of Bobby Knight. And that was the coaching mentality, whether it be swimming or baseball. [Baseball] Coach Bob Morgan was so hard on me. I was going to transfer, but I stuck it out. He changed my life. I learned discipline, work ethic, how to be competitive and how to bounce back from adversity and obstacles. He was tough back then, like Bobby Knight, but you end up learning from some of the things they built in you.” Morgan managed at IU for 21 years and Smith still keeps in touch with him.

Smith was first team Big Ten shortstop as a junior and senior and was an All-American his senior year. He won the Rotary Smith Award in 1992 as the most outstanding college baseball player of the year, an award also won by major leaguers Jason Varitek, Mark Kotsay, Andy Benes, Ben McDonald, Tim Hudson and Mark Prior. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1992 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Texas Rangers.

As a professional, Smith would pay his dues in A-ball with stops in Gastonia (N.C.), Port Charlotte (Fla.) and High Desert (Calif.). In 1995, he played at Tulsa in Double-A and, now a 26-year-old utility player, he would finish his career at Triple-A Oklahoma City due to a broken hamate bone exacerbated by Texas adding high profile draft picks Benji Gil and Jeff Frey. Smith never made it to the “show” and never even got an invitation to spring training.

Because of his business acumen, after his playing career he stayed in baseball with the Rangers. Under then GM Doug Melvin, he would rise through the ranks of the front office and eventually become assistant farm director. 

He started working on his MBA at Oklahoma and later graduated from UTA. “I am very proud of that,” Smith said. But his work load would not allow him to continue his demanding job with the Rangers. “I stepped out to finish my MBA or risk losing my credits,” Smith said, “and I couldn’t do it while still working with the Rangers.”

Smith knew the game was changing. He saw that having baseball experience was not enough and everyone getting hired had an advanced degree. “I saw the trend early on that the GMs, which is what I wanted to be, were not just the old baseball guys. They had law degrees. So, I said ‘I’ve got my playing career and my MBA so I am going back into baseball.’” Smith never went back into baseball, at least directly.

Smith, 51, has no regrets about leaving the game he loves. “I didn’t want to be defined as just a baseball guy, because I was always that. High school. Small town. Minor leagues. I am a baseball guy. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just who I was. But I have a love for how companies start, for real estate and taking risks. Trying to build wealth. Things I was never taught growing up.”    

He worked in a leadership role at Cintas in Cincinnati and started doing real estate and investments on the side. “We cried when we left Texas to go to Cincinnati,” Smith said, who is married with two college-aged boys. “I was doing well at Cintas — big job — and when a recruiter called I kept turning him down because I was too busy. When he ended up with a senior VP [position] at Williamson-Dickey [Dickies apparel] and it happened to be in Fort Worth, I interviewed, they moved us back and we settled in Southlake.”

Dickies was recently sold and as a senior manager in a privately held company, Smith benefitted. The new company wanted to move him to Nashville and he declined so he could stay in DFW. He would carve his own niche.

He continued investing in real estate, self-storage facilities and owned a successful RV park in Weatherford. “They were all very good to me,” Smith said. “But I would go on corporate outings with Dickies or family vacations to Rough Creek [Lodge and] Resort in Glen Rose. Every room had a balcony and had a rocker on the balcony. After a long day, I would sit in that rocker, relax and look out at the Texas sky.”

He saw a mark on the chairs that they were made in Cresson near Weatherford, and spoke to the owners about making some picnic tables. He also raved about their chairs. “So, he [the owner] said, ‘Do you want to buy the business?’ and I said no,” Smith said. “I ordered some more tables a few months later and he asked me to buy the company again.”

Smith found the company was a mom and pop, had a few workers and no website. “So, I said ‘Send me the numbers.’ They had a great product, so I wrote a letter of intent and bought it.” He would go to the facility in Cresson on weekends to learn how to make the products, eventually moving the facility closer to home.

Part of the Rangers ownership group was familiar with the chairs and suggested that they would make a unique addition to the new stadium, not knowing the new owner of the company spent 10 years in the Texas organization. “They called me to place the chair order,” Smith said. “They didn’t know I was involved until I delivered the first 30 of them. 

“It has been such a hit. I am a stop on the tour. It’s blown up on me. They were such a big hit at the World Series, they [Rangers] are selling them as seats now. But I saw pictures of kids sitting in the big rockers. I said that they have to let me make kids rockers. The game is about the kids.”          

 Due to the popularity of his products, Smith just opened a much larger facility. He still has his handmade furniture and is introducing a lower priced, self-assemble line available through major online retailers. Smith now lists his title on LinkedIn as “free agent.” 

“l have never been more happy or more motivated in my life,” Smith said.

Alex Smith’s proudest moment in sports was being inducted into the IU Sports Hall of Fame. He earned his place on the wall at Assembly Hall — joining Kluszewski — where he can look up at his portrait. Now he can look up at middle level of the left field stands at Globe Life Park and admire his contribution to Rangers baseball as well.

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