‘Team Holliday’ anchored by Leslee, mother of baseball’s famous family and Rockies’ latest top pick

A legendary baseball love story began with a blind date in November That s when -year-old Matt Holliday met -year-old Leslee Smith in Stillwater Okla Matt drafted by the Rockies in the eighth round of the June draft had of late completed short-season rookie ball in Arizona Leslee was a candidate at Oklahoma State Nearly years later their two sons have a chance to become stars Last Sunday Ethan a latest graduate of Stillwater High School was taken by the Rockies with the fourth overall pick of the Major League Baseball draft In Jackson now was the first overall pick He debuted with the Orioles last April at the tender age of and is now their starting second baseman From their famous father the boys learned how to thrive in the batting cage and on the diamond Matt was a seven-time All-Star but ask just about anyone in Stillwater and they ll tell you that Leslee is the family s superstar She s raised Jackson Ethan Graycn and Reed with a battle plan and a tender touch We are Company Holliday Leslee revealed She s centered the family s life on her deep Christian faith Last offseason the Hollidays took part in a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International a Christian child sponsorship organization She doesn t get enough credit but then she doesn t need it Ethan revealed She knows who she is and she has inevitably been the centerpiece of our family Jackson would say the same thing my dad would say the same and Reed and Graycn would say the same She s incredible Added Jackson I don t even know where to start It wasn t just about her taking us to all of our games and all of that It s the way she handled the chaos of the four kids with grace and ecstasy It was very easy to grow up with somebody you consider your best friend as a kid somebody who was your mom as well She let us enjoy growing up playing baseball and just being kids Photo courtesy of Holliday familyOklahoma State University volunteer baseball coach Matt Holliday and his family at a Stillwater High School contest Pictured with Matt are from left Jackson Leslee Reed Ethan and Gracyn Photo courtesy of Holliday family Hope Floats The Hollidays are baseball royalty in Stillwater Matt s father Tom was the head coach at Oklahoma State from to That position is now held by Matt s older brother Josh The family boasts four Oklahoma Gatorade Competitor of the Year winners Josh in Matt in Jackson in and Ethan this year A baseball legacy is only part of what makes the Holliday family thrive From Matt you are going to get all of the baseball stuff but when you get to know the Holliday boys they are not just baseball players they are a lot of other things multifaceted disclosed Billy Jones who just completed his th season as Stillwater s varsity assistant coach and director of baseball operations Leslee is the other part of their life and she s a big reason they are so well-rounded Not that Matt isn t part of that but Leslee is their safe space It would ve been impossible to see it all coming on that casual first date back in We got set up by a friend Matt recalled from the Holliday home in Stillwater We went to one of those cheap movie theaters where they used to show movies on a second run out of the main theaters Leslee cackling chimed in It was a movie and at the point Matt didn t know financially how it was going to go she disclosed Does Leslee remember the name of the movie Of module she explained Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr Great movie Prophetic too Matt and Leslee were married on Dec Now nearly years later after four kids Matt s big-league seasons two World Series seven All-Star games and career home runs the parents reside in baseball heaven It s a elation Leslee disclosed I m savoring these days just like I did on the T-ball fields and coach-pitch fields and high school fields It s been pretty incredible Leslee grew up on a ranch in Higgins Texas Her father Steve Smith raised cattle and quarterhorses The family moved to the small Oklahoma town of Chickasha pronounced Chick-kuh-shay and Leslee graduated from Chickasha High School where she played basketball tennis softball and soccer She was also a cheerleader Go Fightin Chicks ' she mentioned with a laugh In my school you pretty much had an opportunity to play every sport Leslee s side of the family has its own rich sports heritage Her mom Janice Fenimore Smith played collegiate softball at Oklahoma State and Northern Colorado Her younger brothers Matt and Zach were both high school football stars But it was her great-uncle Bob Fenimore who was largest part famous Fenimore known as the Blonde Bomber was a two-time All-American football member at Oklahoma A M College now Oklahoma State He finished third in the Heisman Trophy vote He was a very very kind man Matt announced Spend any time with him and he d tell you all about it Leslee added He was very proud of what he did for Oklahoma State But Leslee s hero is her father and their relationship in turn molded the Holliday boys Steve and his daughter often rode the range together talking about life I really enjoy spending time with him and I longed my kids to have the same experience Leslee reported Even though our life looks different than the one I grew up with the one thing I needed was to make sure that our children had an opportunity to be around their dad Ethan Holliday left talks with his father former Colorado Rockies athlete Matt Holliday before the Baltimore Orioles take on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver on Friday Aug Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post The non-negotiable Matt s career took him from Colorado to Oakland to St Louis to New York City and back to Colorado There were multiple minor league stops and spring trainings Ethan was born in Tucson Ariz during spring training When Leslee and Matt were at the hospital Rockies teammates Cory Sullivan and Garrett Atkins babysat Jackson Sullivan drove Jackson to the hospital to see his mom and baby brother When Matt and Leslee started their family and Matt s career took him across the country she had a hard-and-fast rule the family would live together all the time If that meant renting an apartment in Oakland for half a season in or living in bustling New York with four kids for Matt s season with the Yankees so be it If that required Leslee to become a master traveler juggling suitcases and baby strollers through airports that would happen too That was non-negotiable in our marriage she reported Wherever Matt was that s where we were going I m so grateful for that decision because Matt is an incredible father I yearned the kids to know him Leslee s steadfast rule is a big part of the reason why Jackson and Ethan chased their baseball dreams Leslee created an atmosphere where they would get excited about baseball and what I did Matt noted She did an amazing job of allowing the kids to see my job as a positive and something they longed to do I have seen the kids of other players sometimes resenting what their dad does because they never saw him and he missed all kinds of things If I had to put a bow on it I d say that Leslee created an climate where the kids grew to love baseball and my job Jackson and Ethan played on summer expedition ball teams attended showcases around the country and spent countless hours on the fields and in the batting cages at Oklahoma State But they haven t burned out on the battle Baseball is a love not a have-to That s absolutely it Jones noted The Stillwater High coach grew up in Los Angeles with Todd Marinovich who became the ultimate cautionary tale of what can happen when intense focus on athletic achievement overwhelms a young prodigy Marinovich a rifle-armed quarterback was selected by the Raiders out of Southern California in the first round of the NFL draft Then his life fell apart His father Marv groomed Marinovich from infancy to be a star QB But according to a Sports Illustrated story Todd Marinovich was the test-tube QB the first half of his life a drug addict since Jones saw it up close and personal Marv was one of my coaches and I saw the way he treated Todd vs how he treated us Jones recalled We would go out to McDonald s and stuff but Todd had to have this special diet He was forced to do all of this special training You could see the burnout coming long before it happened But with Jackson and Ethan and their happiness I think a lot of it has to do with their spirituality They have a deep Christian faith and their family is so centered it s not just about baseball It s pickleball It s golf It s learning It s all of those things They are very well-rounded and Leslee and Matt deserve credit for that Stillwater High School senior shortstop Ethan Holliday takes the field as he's greeted by teammates Holliday is the Rockies' first-round draft choice Photo courtesy of Billy Jones Ready for the world Ethan -foot- pounds with room to pack on muscle had an astounding senior season at Stillwater High hitting with a OPS home runs and RBIs Impressive for sure but that s not what defines the Rockies first-round pick I know Ethan really well and he s an amazing kid Jones explained When we talk it s usually not about baseball It s about music or other things Ethan is really into reggae Leslee was not surprised when the Rockies picked Ethan largest part draft experts had predicted it Still she was emotional It s exciting and you can t help but get sentimental she stated I mean the day after Matt and I got married we drove to Colorado for a winter expansion effort We lived in the basement of Kurt and Tammy Wells home in Littleton We feel like we grew up with the Rockies organization Jackson was born in the organization So was Ethan There are such sweet memories for us there So I m thrilled for Ethan I can t wait to see him in Denver I love Coors Field I think it s the greatest ballpark in the league Related Articles Rockies clinch first home series win of with - win over Twins Rockies Journal Ezequiel Tovar returns but will Brenton Doyle ever find his way back Rockies Jordan Beck flirts with cycle in achievement over Twins at Coors Field With season already lost Rockies face prospect of roster front office overhaul in second half Renck Baseball won with All-Star Match but Rockies keep losing She vividly remembers the season when Matt was the leading man in Colorado s Rocktober run to the World Series Magical is how she describes it There is no telling when Ethan will make his own Coors Field debut but when he does he ll know where to look for his mom in the stands The thought of moving out of this house and not having my mom around is sad explained Ethan who will soon begin his professional career in the Arizona Complex League But my mom helped mold me into someone ready for the world She means everything to me She s incredible Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis