When it came time for Houston’s power structure to get behind the late 1950’s drive to bring Major League Baseball to Texas, R. E. “Bob” Smith was the man who brought the leverage of reality to the effort. Best recalled today as the figure who brought the contributions of money and land to the fight, to remember Smith only for his tangible contributions is to fail in understanding all that he brought to the table as a man of great wisdom, business savvy, people intuition, hard-nosed business sense, and actual experience in baseball club ownership. Few may know this fact about the man, but in 1952, R. E. “Bob” Smith became part owner of the Philadelphia Athletics.

A man of little formal education, Tyler native Bob Smith had grown into a giant figure in the Texas oil business, learning well from his father and his own hands-on experience working on rigs. From early in life, he displayed an uncanny natural instinct for finding oil and for acquiring land of potential value. Smith’s ability to find oil by simply examining land conformations was legendary. On the people side, he was one of those rare individuals who could intuitively discern the difference between a grand vision and a potentially disastrous pipe dream. As he did with his search for oil, Smith seemed to be able to read the depth of what lay hidden inside anyone who came to him with a “good idea.”

That ability of R. E. “Bob” Smith to discern genius from madness when he came into contact with the vision of Judge Roy Hofheinz was a turning point in Texas baseball history. In the absence of Smith’s support, it is likely that Judge Hofheinz’s vision of building a domed stadium and bringing Major League Baseball to Houston would have died on the vine. With Bob Smith joining the good fight as Chairman of the Board of the Houston Sports Association, public support for the construction of the first domed stadium was obtained, clearing the way for the coming of Major League Baseball to Houston in 1962.

By the time of his death in 1973 at age 79, the legacy of R. E. “Bob” Smith was much larger than his totally critical role in Texas baseball history. Smith is remembered today as one of the state’s most successful oil, ranching, and real estate figures. Far beyond his worldly accomplishments, he is recalled as a man who generously donated millions of dollars to a wide variety of philanthropic causes to benefit the city and state that he loved.