HOF Profile: Lee Smith
Now we get to the our first holdover and someone who has received some decent support.
Lee Smith - Closer
Chicago Cubs 1980-1987
Boston Red Sox 1988-1990
St. Louis Cardinals 1990-1993
New York Yankees 1993
Baltimore Orioles 1994
California Angels 1995-1996
Cincinnati Reds 1996
Montreal Expos 1997
5th year on the ballot
Past HOF Voting Results
2003: 42.34%
2004: 36.56%
2005: 38.8%
2006: 45.0%
Awards
1991 NL Rolaids Relief Award
1992 NL Rolaids Relief Award
1994 AL Rolaids Relief Award
All-Star Selections: 7 (1983, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)
League Leader
1983: Saves
1991: Saves
1992: Saves
1994: Saves
Career Ranks
Saves: 2nd
Games: 8th
H/9: 97th
K/9: 11th
K/BB: 61st
ERA+: 30th
Hall of Fame Stats
Black Ink: Pitching - 12 (178) (Average HOFer ≈ 40)
Gray Ink: Pitching - 48 (512) (Average HOFer ≈ 185)
HOF Standards: Pitching - 13.0 (578) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Pitching - 135.0 (50) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Pitchers in HOF: 2 (Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter)
Other Similar Pitchers: Jeff Reardon, John Franco, Roberto Hernandez, Trevor Hoffman, Rick Aguilera, Kent Tekulve, Jose Mesa
Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)
1980: 2/0.7
1981: 4/2.5
1982: 13/4.5
1983: 19/8.3
1984: 15/4.9
1985: 17/5.9
1986: 17/7.2
1987: 15/7.4
1988: 12/4.7
1989: 11/3.9
1990: 17/6.2
1991: 15/6.5
1992: 12/4.2
1993: 9/3.4
1994: 8/4.9
1995: 8/5.0
1996: 4/2.1
1997: 0/0.1
Career Win Shares: 198
Career WARP3: 82.2
Would he get my vote?
No. I personally just have a hard time thinking someone who spent their career almost exclusively as a short reliever as being a HOF. As I've mentioned before a closer can rarely ever be considered the most valuable player on a team. Even though he retired as the all-time saves leader Smith was definately a notch below the elite closers in baseball history (Fingers, Eckersley, Rivera, Gossage, Sutter, Quisenberry, Wilhelm, Hoffman) and by the time he reached his mid-30s he was just padding his career save totals.
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