He received The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award in 1968 after the Tigers won the American League (AL) pennant by 12 games with a record of 103–59 (.636) and defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1968 World Series.

ESPN has ranked Smith's decision to move Mickey Stanley to shortstop for the 1968 World Series as the third "gutsiest call" in sports history.

[4][8] Smith attended Lake Worth High School where he was the captain of the football and basketball teams and the class president in his sophomore and senior years.

[16] In February 1936, Smith reported to the Maple Leafs' training camp in Haines City, Florida, making his fourth attempt to win a full-time berth with the team.

In 1939, he played on a Maple Leafs team that included future Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Heinie Manush and Tony Lazzeri.

"[20] In December 1939, Smith was traded by the Maple Leafs to the Buffalo Bisons, the Detroit Tigers farm team in the International League, in exchange for outfielder Johnnie Tyler.

The Bisons' business manager John Stiglmeier leaped over the rail from his box and ran onto the field to slap Smith on the back when he completed his home-run trot.

[36] In December 1945, the Athletics traded Smith and Steve Gerkin to the Triple A Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in exchange for Wandel B.

[2] In his first month with the Rugmakers, Smith hit six home runs, including three that sailed over the 310-foot right field fence at Amsterdam's Mohawk Mills Park during a double-header against Three Rivers.

"[51] Despite the "loud guffaws" among the Philadelphia press,[52] Yankees manager Casey Stengel endorsed the hiring of Smith, saying:"Mayo will make good.

At the end of the season, Smith received 30 of 99 votes by the Baseball Writers' Association of America as the 1955 National League Manager of the Year; he finished in second place behind Walter Alston.

[70] By the end of 1959, Smith also had successful business interests in Florida real estate, West Virginia oil, and a bowling alley chain in the Carolinas.

[80] Joe Falls of the Detroit Free Press called him a "nobody" who fit Jim Campbell's image of the "elderly, experienced, devoted" manager.

[81] Jerry Green of The Detroit News later wrote: "Sportswriters covering the team at the time regarded Smith as a bland man without imagination.

[84] At his first press conference in Detroit, Smith identified pitching as the problem that most required attention and the outfield (featuring Al Kaline, Willie Horton (baseball), Jim Northrup, Mickey Stanley, and Gates Brown) as the greatest strength.

[90] As the team endured successive hot and cold periods, Smith developed a reputation for "keeping his cool" and not "chewing out" his players.

After being pulled from a game in August, pitcher Joe Sparma told a reporter that he felt "humiliated" and made "rather harsh comments" about Smith.

[100] Another August controversy arose after Dick McAuliffe charged the mound and knocked down Chicago White Sox pitcher Tommy John.

[101] American League president Joe Cronin initially imposed a $250 fine on McAuliffe, but subsequently modified the sanction to include a five-day penalty.

Center-fielder Mickey Stanley led all American League outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage and was on his way to a second consecutive Gold Glove Award.

[102][105] Smith's most dramatic strategic call was his decision to continue playing center-fielder Mickey Stanley at shortstop, for all seven games of the World Series.

Even Smith's closest friends questioned the move, and critics gravely opined that he was weakening the Tigers at two positions, given Stanley's Gold Glove season in center field.

More importantly, the move allowed Smith to keep both Jim Northrup and Al Kaline in the line-up, and each had key hits to fuel the Tigers' comeback against the Cardinals.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Smith opted to allow starting pitcher Mickey Lolich to bat, despite the Tigers need to put a runner on base.

Lolich got a base hit to start a two-run rally, scored the tying run, struck out Roger Maris and picked off Lou Brock in the ninth inning, and pitched his second complete-game victory of the series.

[109] Smith's fan mail was so voluminous after the Tigers won the World Series that it took five people two full days to put things in order.

The team relied on power as four players (Cash, Kaline, Horton and Northrup) hit more than 20 home runs, but lacked speed and finished last in the American League with only 35 stolen bases.

[84] In 1970, the Tigers fell to 79–83 (.488) in a season marked by the suspension of Denny McLain for his association with bookmakers and by the publication of Bill Freehan's behind-the-scenes book on the 1969 team.

[120] Before leaving Detroit, Smith called the city a great sports town in his farewell news conference, but he privately lashed out at the fans in a conversation with reporters: "They wouldn't know a baseball player from a Japanese aviator.

[127] In March 1940, Smith married Louise Pauline Otto in a ceremony held at the Our Savior Lutheran Church in Lake Worth, Florida.