In the early 1900’s the Edmonton Baseball Club teams played competitively in the Western Canadian League. Foot (Ulrich) Ruell formerly of Notre Dame University, was one of the players.
So what does this have to do with Smith? Back then sports figures didn’t have big money contracts. Instead of lounging around in Tahiti; Foot spent the winter of 1913/14 helping build our railway bridge. It allowed him to stay in prime shape to become one of the 5 men from the Edmonton Eskimos team (it was a baseball team back then) to bat over .300 in the 1914 season.
His professional career began in 1909 where he played in the Connecticut State League, Before coming to Edmonton in 1913 he also played in the Northwestern League and after leaving played for the Three Eye League in 1915..
After coming to Edmonton from Tacoma in 1913, Ruell finished in the top 20 in batting with a very respectable .288. Although he had a poor start to the 1914 season (including a long stint on the disabled list) Ruell finished strong, nearly winning the batting title. He hit .358, the second-best average in the league. Ruell played both shortstop.