Janet Marie Smith

Janet Marie Smith (born December 13, 1957 ) is a Major League Baseball (MLB) executive, architect, and urban planner.

Smith has built and managed renovations of several major and minor league baseball parks in the United States including Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles.

Janet Marie Smith was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and graduated from Callaway High School in 1975.

She earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mississippi State University in 1981.

Prior to working in baseball, from 1981 to 1989, Smith led and managed several civic projects for the cities of Los Angeles and New York City, and from 1994 to 1988, she was President of Pershing Square Management Association in Los Angeles, in charge of the redevelopment of Pershing Square.

From 1981 to 1984, Smith was Coordinator of Architecture and Design for Battery Park City in New York City, NY.

In 1984, she obtained a master's degree in urban planning from City University of the City College of New York.

Smith is an associate member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Institute of Architects, and the American Planning Association.

Smith directed the design of Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards which marked a new era of MLB parks.

Camden Yards was the first of the "Retro Ballparks," and was unique in that it honored many qualities of ballparks from the classic era ballparks like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, but also incorporated modern elements and building techniques to improve the overall fan experience as well as the views.

She became one of the first women to hold an executive position with any Major League Baseball club when she was promoted to Vice President of Planning and Development with the Baltimore Orioles in 1989.

Smith is best known for her work developing Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which set a new standard for ballparks "incorporating historic, old-fashioned ballpark architecture with state-of-the-art modern conveniences."

Through her work, Smith has demonstrated how to seamlessly blend the best elements of the past with those of the future.

Other notable projects completed by Smith are the transformation of Olympic Stadium in Atlanta to the Braves' Turner Field and the renovation of Fenway Park in Boston—which gave new life to the oldest ballpark in the major leagues and included innovations such as the Green Monster Seats as well as the use of Jersey Street as an inside the park concourse.

Starting in 1989 and continuing to date (July 2021), Smith oversaw multiple MLB stadium projects for the Baltimore Orioles, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1989, Smith became the Orioles' Vice President of Planning and Development and was one of the first women to hold this executive position in the history of Major League Baseball.

Camden Yards is the first park to feature Smith's hallmark retro style, combining elements from the great ballparks of the past with modern amenities.

Camden Yards, like many other old and beloved ballparks, is a steel truss park.

While it has a wide array of suites and club level seating, the ballpark also has quirky dimensions, a brick facade, decorative seat ends, and a detailed scoreboard clock.

Under Smith's influence, the city's surroundings were integrated into the ballpark design.

She advocated to preserve the long vacant B&O railroad warehouse, which was destined for destruction, and incorporated it into the baseball experience.

To accomplish the integration, the team needed to present a strong rationale for saving the aging warehouse.

The plan ultimately approved included assigning two-thirds of the space to be used for concessions, souvenir stores, as well as a portion of the space being dedicated for the Orioles' front offices.

Smith also pushed architects HOK Sport and planners RTKL to continue Eutaw Street as a fan concourse through the ballpark which was considered a novel way of integrating the city within the ballpark.

For Smith, it defined the area and inspired her to move forward with the whole design of Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Janet Marie Smith, while working for Stan Kasten, led the project to convert Turner Field to an Olympic Stadium.

Smith's work in major league baseball stadium design and renovation has influenced ballpark design since 1992.

"Every ballpark built since Oriole Park’s opening owes some debt of its design to that park."

Oriole Park became known as "the Baltimore ballpark that changed baseball."

Janet Marie Smith's "fingerprints are all over baseball."

Oriole Park at Camden Yards (OPACY) took the baseball world by storm when it opened in 1992.

Larry Lucchino, who was President of the Baltimore Orioles at the time, had a vision for a single-use ballpark in the newly developing part of downtown Baltimore.

This was when most cities still had large football and baseball stadiums constructed primarily with concrete.

Smith followed news on the downtown Baltimore urban planning saga surrounding OPACY and wrote a letter to Lucchino, offering to help get the Orioles' new ballpark built.

Smith ultimately played a key role in the project.

Smith shared Lucchino's vision for the ballpark, and was able to convey this vision to the Maryland Stadium Authority, who funded and ultimately built the project, and with HOK Sport, the architecture firm charged with drafting the new designs for the ballpark.

The stadium was the centerpiece for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2019, Smith was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women In Sports" by Adweek.

As of 2021, Smith is the Executive Vice President of Planning and Development with the Dodgers organization and has held since 2012.

Smith completed her most recent project—working on Polar Park, the new Triple-A stadium in Worcester, MA which opened in May 2021.