The Hall of Fame Case for Lee Smith

Full disclosure. I grew up in Illinois and I hate the Chicago Cubs.

Wrigley Field, the little “c” on their hats, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and the fact that they call themselves the “Lovable Losers”…they all get my goat (reference intended).

There are some Cubs I have liked however.

Nomar (naturally, but I would never consider him a “Cub”), Andre Dawson, Leon Durham and for some reason…2015 Hall of Very Good inductee Lee Arthur Smith.

I mean, here was a guy that when he entered the game…you knew it was over. Sure, he’d give you a heart attack every now and again, but ultimately, he’d pick up the save and Cub fans could rejoice as the “W” flag was hoisted high above Wrigleyville.

Recently, we’ve seen a handful of closers make their way to Cooperstown…so why didn’t that trend continue with Smith? It’s almost like he’s the forgotten closer out there.

But I’m not sure why.

As we all know, Mariano Rivera is the all-time saves leader with 652. Behind him on the list is Trevor Hoffman with 601 saves. Remember, before Hoffman and Rivera were at the top of the list…Smith was.

For 13 years.

Oh, and his 478 saves dwarfs the 310 and 300 that recent Hall inductees Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter notched. But Smith must have been a one inning pitcher. Guys like Goose consistently earned his saves by going two or more innings. I mean, that was what we heard when Gossage got into Cooperstown in 2008, right?

Well…so did Smith.

At the start of his career, Smith had a stretch of more than 830 innings pitched compared to 592 games played. That’s 83 or more innings pitched in eight of nine years. Three years in a row, he eclipsed 100 or more innings.

By comparison, a guy like Hoffman had ten years where he has pitched fewer innings than the number of games he’s appeared in. Actually, aside from Mariano Rivera…that seems to be the trend of many of the big name closers out there today.

Here’s a fun one for ya…raise your hand if you knew Lee Smith once held the record for most games finished in his career with 802.

No one?

Rivera finished his fantastic run with 952 games finished and Hoffman ended his career with 856. By comparison, Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers finished with 709 and Gossage with 681.

Speaking of closing out games (and getting back to saves), Smith had 13 years where he tallied 25 or more saves. Hoffman did it 14 times…Gossage and Sutter each had seven seasons TOTAL with 25 or more.

It is relatively common now, but in 1987, Smith became only the second pitcher EVER (Dan Quisenberry was the first) to reach 30 or more saves in four consecutive seasons. When it came to closing out games in the early 90s…Smith and Dennis Eckersley were by far the most dependable and durable pair out there. And we all know where Eckersley’s career ended up.

The big knock on Smith is his ERA. People will complain up and down that the big fella gave up WAY too many runs to be considered for the Hall of Fame. They’ll suggest that a Hall worthy closer needs to have a microscopic ERA before they’ll even consider them. Sutter had a career ERA of 2.83, Rollie Fingers…2.90. Right ahead of Smith’s career ERA of 3.03 is Gossage and his 3.01, so you can see that Lee isn’t necessarily that far off the mark.

Another fun fact (thanks Wikipedia) that makes Smith a fun conversation piece is this…he is one of a small percentage of players (the list of pitchers is even smaller) to have their first big league hit be a home run.

Also on that list…Hall of Fame reliever Hoyt Wilhelm.

So, here we have Smith…a seven-time All-Star, three times a top five finisher in the Cy Young Award voting. Will he make the Hall? He looks like a longshot when compared to the guys who dominate the highlights on a nightly basis, but I don’t think he should have been discredited.

Even by looking at the votes he’s gotten, he was once on pace with what Sutter and Gossage did before him. Sutter was on the ballot 13 years before he got in and in his first year of eligibility…he only garnered 23% of the vote. Gossage wasn’t much better. Nine years on the ballot, he ranged from the initial 33% to the eventual 85% he got in 2008. Smith seemed to be following in Gossage’s footsteps, getting 50.6% of the vote in 2012, but as the ballot has gotten more crowded, he’s drop to 30.2% this past January.

Compared to his contemporaries (which is what you must do when discussing the Hall of Fame), Smith stacks up statistically…he belongs in the conversation. Hell, he belongs right there at the beginning of the discussion, but the problem is, Smith has been the victim of so many modern day players…he’s lost his identity.

It is much easier for the casual fan to embrace a player who toes the same rubber from year to year a la Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. But then again…if you are going to spend eight years with the Cubs and only be part of one winning ball club, you can’t blame a guy.

I mean…who REALLY wants to be known as a lifelong “Loveable Loser”?