Lee Arthur Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player who was a pitcher for 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of by the Today's Game Era Committee.
A native of Jamestown in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Smith was scouted by Buck O'Neil and was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 MLB draft. Smith was an intimidating figure on the pitcher's mound at and with a 95-mile-per-hour (150 km/h) fastball. In 1991, he set a National League (NL) record with 47 saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was runner-up for the league's Cy Young Award; it was the second of three times Smith led the NL in saves, and he later led the American League (AL) in saves once. When he retired, he held the major league record for career games finished (802) and was third in games pitched (1,022). He holds the Cubs' team record for career saves (180), and held the same record for the Cardinals (160) until 2006. Smith became known for taking his time to reach the mound when called upon, which Smith attributed to a fact he learned that the groundskeepers at Wrigley Field would receive time and a half for games that went past 4:30 p.m.
After his playing career, Smith worked as a pitching instructor in Minor League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants. He served as the pitching coach for the South Africa national baseball team in the World Baseball Classics of 2006 and 2009.
Early life Smith attended high school in Castor, Louisiana, where his favorite sport was basketball; he did not play on the baseball team until he was a junior. Smith said he began playing only because his brother bet him $10 that he couldn't handle the position of catcher. Negro leagues veteran Buck O'Neil is credited with having scouted him.
Professional career Draft and minor leagues At age 17, Smith was selected in the second round of the 1975 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs with the 28th overall pick. The Cubs, via O'Neil, were able to get Smith under contract for a $50,000 signing bonus plus $8,000 for his education.
Smith began his professional career as a starting pitcher, first playing in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 1975. He played in Class A in 1976 and 1977 with the Pompano Beach Cubs, then in Double-A during 1978 and 1979 with the Midland Cubs. In 1978, Smith struggled with Midland in the Texas League, walking 128 batters in 155 innings pitched. When the team moved him to the bullpen, Smith felt he was being demoted and nearly quit the team; a talk from former Cubs outfielder Billy Williams convinced him to stay. Smith returned to Midland in 1979, lowering his earned run average (ERA) by a full run compared to the prior season (5.98 to 4.93). In 1980, Smith played in Triple-A with the Wichita Aeros of the American Association, recording 15 saves and a 3.70 ERA.
Chicago Cubs (1980–1987) Smith made his major league debut with the Cubs, who were struggling to a last-place finish, on September 1, 1980, against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched a scoreless inning and recorded his first MLB strikeout, coming against Glenn Hubbard. Smith made 18 relief appearances through the end of the season, pitching to a 2.91 ERA with a 2–0 record. He returned to the Cubs for the 1981 season, and was used mostly as a middle relief pitcher. His first major league save came on August 29, when he recorded the final five outs of a 3–1 Cubs win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Smith had an ERA of 3.94 through early June, when the season was interrupted by the 1981 Major League Baseball strike. He finished the season with an ERA of 3.51 and a 3–6 record, coming in 39 relief appearances plus a single start at the end of the season.
During the 1982 season, closing for the Cubs was shared between Smith, Willie Hernández, Bill Campbell and Dick Tidrow, each of whom finished at least 25 games while registering 17, 10, 8, and 6 saves, respectively. Smith also started five games between June 16 and July 5, registering a no decision followed by four consecutive losses. These five starts, along with the start at the end of the 1981 season, were the only six starts that Smith made during his major league career. Smith also collected his first MLB hit, coming on July 5 against Atlanta, a second-inning home run off of Phil Niekro. Smith only collected two additional hits, one each in 1983 and 1984, registering a career batting average of .047 (3-for-64).
Ferguson Jenkins, who had pitched for the Cubs from 1966 to 1973, returned to the Cubs for the final two seasons of his career, 1982 and 1983. Years later, Smith credited Jenkins with simplifying his delivery, introducing him to the slider and forkball, and teaching him how to set up hitters. Smith subsequently led the Cubs in games finished and saves for each of the 1983 through 1987 seasons.
During his first 10 appearances of 1983, Smith allowed no runs while allowing only three hits and striking out 12 batters in innings pitched; his ERA was not above 1.85 at any point during the year. His overall 1.65 ERA for the season proved to be the lowest of his major league career, nearly two runs better than the NL average of 3.63, and he also posted a career-best 1.074 WHIP. He led the NL with 29 saves and 56 games finished. Smith was selected to his first All-Star Game, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in an inning of work as his NL team lost the 1983 mid-summer classic to the AL, 13–3. Smith received a point in the NL's Cy Young Award voting and eight points in the NL Most Valuable Player Award voting.
The 1984 Cubs made the franchise's first postseason appearance since 1945, and were the first of only two playoff teams that Smith played for (the other being the 1988 Red Sox). Smith saved more than 30 games for the first time in his career, but compiled a 3.65 ERA, his worst of the decade. In the postseason, he appeared in two games of the NL Championship Series. In Game 2, Smith earned the save in a 4–2 Cubs win by recording the final two outs. The win gave the Cubs a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five series, but the San Diego Padres won the next three games to deny the Cubs a berth in the 1984 World Series. Smith took the loss in Game 4: entering in the bottom of the eighth with the game tied, 5–5, he allowed one hit and kept the game tied; in the bottom of the ninth, he allowed a one-out single to Tony Gwynn, followed by a two-run walk-off home run by Steve Garvey to force a deciding fifth game. Smith did not pitch in Game 5, and San Diego won the final game of the series with a score of 6–3.
In 1985, Smith for the first time dominated the league in strikeouts as a relief pitcher. After averaging fewer than eight strikeouts per nine innings in each prior season, he improved to 10.32 in 1985. He finished the season with a career-high 112 strikeouts in only innings pitched. Smith saved more than 30 games while the Cubs had losing records in 1985, 1986 and 1987. In 1987, he was chosen for his second All-Star Game. When the midsummer classic went into extra innings, Smith pitched the 10th, 11th and 12th innings, striking out four and getting credit for the win when the NL scored the only two runs of the game in the 13th. With his 30th save in 1987, Smith became only the second pitcher (joining Dan Quisenberry) to reach the mark in four consecutive seasons. One player told writers Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo for their book, Baseball Confidential, that one of the most daunting sights in the majors was Smith throwing "pure gas from out of the shadows" of Wrigley Field, which did not have lights at the time.
Despite his numbers, rumors were swirling about his weight and its effect on his knees, and his request for a trade out of Chicago. On December 8, Smith, the team's career leader in saves, was traded to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi. While Smith registered nearly 300 saves after the trade, Nipper only pitched in 31 more major-league games, while Schiraldi was out of baseball before age 30.
Boston Red Sox (1988–1990) The Boston Red Sox finished the 1987 season with a losing record, at 78–84. One of the main problems was a weak bullpen, leading to Boston's acquisition of Smith in December 1987. Despite giving up a game-winning home run in his 1988 Opening Day debut at Fenway Park, Smith posted an ERA of 2.80 in 64 regular season appearances, his lowest ERA since 1983 (1.65). The Red Sox finished first in the American League East division with a regular season record of 89–73. In Smith's second (and final) appearance in the postseason, he made two appearances in the AL Championship Series. Against the Oakland Athletics, he was the losing pitcher in Game 2, allowing the winning run via three ninth-inning singles. In Game 4, with Boston down three games to none and trailing 2–1, Smith allowed two insurance runs in the eighth inning as Oakland completed the series sweep.
Entering 1989, Smith's salary rose to $1.425 million. His ERA for the season was 3.57, his highest since 1984 (3.65), and he only pitched innings, his lowest total since 1981 (). He recorded a career-high of 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings. The Red Sox finished at 83–79, third place in their division.
For the 1980s, Smith recorded 234 saves in 580 MLB relief appearances, with an ERA of 2.95. Smith and Jeff Reardon are considered to be among the top relievers of the decade, with Reardon recording 264 saves in 507 relief appearances with a 3.06 ERA for the decade. In December 1989, the Red Sox signed free agent Reardon to a three-year, $6.8 million contract. During the first month of the 1990 season, both Smith and Reardon pitched for the Red Sox, with Smith earning four saves and Reardon earning one. On May 4, the Red Sox chose to bolster their offense and traded Smith to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Tom Brunansky. Overall in his two-plus seasons in Boston, Smith had appeared in 139 games while collecting 58 saves; in innings pitched he struck out 209 batters.
St. Louis Cardinals (1990–1993) Smith made his St. Louis debut on May 6, 1990, allowing two runs on three hits in an inning of work during a 5–1 loss. He made 53 appearances with the 1990 Cardinals, registering 27 saves with a 2.10 ERA while striking out 70 batters in innings. He also had a stretch of 16 consecutive appearances without allowing a run, spanning late June to early August. The team, however, finished at 70–92 and in last place.
In 1991, St. Louis improved to 84–78, while Smith recorded a career-high 47 saves. He surpassed the National League record for saves on October 1, previously held by Bruce Sutter and set in 1984 when Sutter also played for the Cardinals. With Smith's salary roughly doubled to nearly $2.8 million, this was the first of four consecutive seasons during which he had over 40 saves. Smith won his first Rolaids Relief Man Award, received the most significant consideration for league MVP in his career (finishing eighth in NL MVP voting), and finished second in Cy Young Award voting behind Tom Glavine.
Smith again led the NL in saves in 1992, registering 43. In 70 appearances, he struck out 60 batters in 75 innings, while recording a 3.12 ERA; he also won his second Rolaids Relief Man Award. In a game on September 23, 1992, Smith committed an error; he had last committed an error in a National League game on June 30, 1982, while with the Cubs. This span of 546 appearances was the NL record for consecutive errorless games by a pitcher until broken by Heath Bell in 2013.