Lee Arthur Smith finished his career with more saves than anyone in the history of the game, 478, since bested by Trevor Hoffman. But still Smith led his league in saves four times, and had twenty-five or more saves in twelve straight seasons. Lee was an eight time All Star, 1983, 87, 91-95. He appeared in 1,022 games, with a 3.03 ERA, and nearly a strikeout per inning.
“[I flipped] a coin with Lee Smith to see who throws the eighth inning of the ’91 game. We were behind in Toronto, and we were both tired. I won the flip, so I pitched the eighth, and that means he had to stay out there for the ninth. He didn’t get to pitch anyway, because we lost. But what I remember most from that is him coming back into the clubhouse and being ticked off because someone stole his glove. I felt guilty because he loses this flip to me, and that glove probably had 300 saves in it, bound for the Hall of Fame.”
— Rob Dibble on his favorite All-Star memory
Here’s one for CLuke, he has all the numbers, this guy should be voted into the HOF, maybe not in 2009, but he deserves in, but he doesn’t get the votes, due to east coast bias.
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Hall of Fame |
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Hall of Very Good |
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| Why is he even on the Ballot? |
While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Read the rest the of the profiles.