History Of A Hyphen
BUFFALO, N.Y. — As the first major leaguer to wear a hyphen on his back, Ryan Rowland-Smith believes he was also one of baseball’s first players to have a Twitter handle.
If so, he owes the second distinction to the first. Though with each, he’s caught more than a fair share of grief.
By the summer of his third season with Seattle in 2009, Rowland-Smith turned the uniqueness of the punctuation bridging his two last names into a connection to Mariner fans. Within a few weeks, more than 1,600 were following @hyphen18. Today they number nearly 12,000.
But when the good-natured Rowland-Smith started Tweeting, he often heard good-natured chirping from teammates. Back then, unlike today, few inside a baseball clubhouse were willing to step outside into the Twitterverse.
Recently, Rowland-Smith, who was already a blogger at the time, laughingly recalled his earliest days on Twitter from the home dugout bench of Pawtucket’s McCoy Stadium. He also chuckled over the commentary — usually delivered in less than original lines — that he still hears today, thanks to his hyphen.
“Fans ask me why I took my wife’s last name,” jokes the lefty reliever, whose bride is known by neither Rowland nor Smith (more on that in a moment).
Truth is, as Rowland-Smith only discovered about four years ago, the hyphen’s history stems from his great grandfather.
Robert Baron Rowland Smith was born in October 1925, the son of Rowland and Dorothy Smith. In a 2012 obituary published in The Sydney Morning Herald, he was described as a one-time “woolgrower and processor” who went from lobbying on behalf of Australia’s merino wool industry to legislating as a politician. Eventually, in 1988, Smith was appointed his country’s minister for sport, recreation and racing.
Bob Rowland Smith was many other things. Among them, according to his great grandson, a Red Sox fan. He was so revered, his family added to its surname, adopting Rowland to go with Smith. Thus, future generations are and will be known as Rowland-Smith.
But that’s just a small part of the past for the PawSox pitcher. We’re told by beer commercials that the world’s most interesting man speaks with a Spanish flair. Listening to Rowland-Smith, we hear that perhaps most interesting player in Pawtucket has the accent of an Aussie.
In addition to Rowland-Smith’s hyphen, and the story behind it, consider the following:
- The family tree. His great grandfather was a well-known public servant Down Under. His mother, Julie Smith, was a physical education teacher who, according to a 2008 Seattle Times article, constantly shuttled her kids to sporting events. One of those children, daughter Rhiannon, became a pro surfer (“Probably the best athlete in the family,” says Ryan). Their father, Rob, is a celebrity trainer renown in Australia as The Sandhill Warrior and recognized in the United States from MTV’s Surf Girls reality show. Rob’s clients have included surfing great Kelly Slater.
- Wife Amanda Aardsma. Rowland-Smith is married to the older sister of his ex-Mariner bullpen mate David Aardsma, who briefly pitched for the PawSox (two appearances) in 2008. Amanda is an actress whose credits include appearances on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Judging Amy. According to Ryan, she recently landed a role on the soap opera Days Of Our Lives.
- Laila The Boxer. Since his time in Seattle, Rowland-Smith has been an advocate and spokesman for humane treatment of animals, particularly dogs. He and Amanda adopted a boxer, Laila. And like her owners, Laila has her own Twitter handle (@lailatheboxer). No kidding.
- International intrigue. After growing up along Australia’s Gold Coast, Rowland-Smith has represented his country in the Olympics, as a silver medalist at Athens in 2004, and the World Baseball Classic.
- And oh yeh, his pro baseball career. In four years as a Mariner, Rowland-Smith went from a reliable reliever to a struggling starter. In 2008, as a 25-year old, he was 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA and two saves in 47 appearances, including a dozen starts. Two years later, he endured a 1-10 record and 6.75 ERA in 27 games, all but seven while starting. In the aftermath, Rowland-Smith has gone from Triple-A Oklahoma City (2-10 in 2011) to Iowa (3-6 in 2012) to Pawtucket, where this relative Renaissance Man has proved resurgent. Since joining the PawSox, he is 2-0 with a 0.93 ERA and .129 opponents’ average. Rowland-Smith has allowed four hits in 9.2 innings pitched, limiting left-handed batters to an .083 mark (1-for-12). Should he keep it up, of course, the hypen will make its way to The Hub.
Following is a brief conversation with Rowland-Smith that aired on a PawSox Radio Network pre-game show:
And a longer visit with Rowland-Smith for PawSox Insider:
Socci On The Sox 