John Roach initially wrote this story for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Poor Lee Smith did the worst thing any baseball player can do if he wants to be immortalized in Cooperstown: He stopped playing.
And in the eyes of Baseball Hall of Fame voters, he keeps getting worse every year.
Considering he’s now 57 and hasn’t played since 1997, it’s hard to see what Smith has done wrong in the eyes of voters. But he went from receiving more than 50 percent of the votes and on track to reach the Hall of Fame to 30.2 percent in 2015 and needing a campaign drive to make it.
In the first 75 years of balloting, only Gil Hodges received at least 50 percent support and did not eventually make the Hall. Now, Smith seems likely to join Hodges, and recent snub Jack Morris on the outside looking in, with only two elections left before his 15 years of candidacy is up.
What’s amazing is that he finished his career as the all-time saves leader in baseball history. Think about that. And that his 478 saves are more than relievers Goose Gossage, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers, who are all in the Hall.
His candidacy continues to be hurt as more viable candidates from a different era become eligible. It also doesn’t help that voters with sway, such as ESPN’s Jayson Stark and FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, have switched their votes from supporting his election to questioning it.
MLB.com’s Tom Singer makes a pitch-perfect defense for Smith, a seven-time All Star, and the 1991 Cy Young runner-up, who was both dominant in his time and durable. He made 60 or more appearances in 12-straight seasons, baseball’s longest streak by any closer.
Stark says Smith is the only player he ever voted for once and then changed his mind. In a chat, he asked readers, “Want to talk me out of that judgment?”
No, I’d like to talk you into sticking with your first instincts about an extraordinary closer who retired with a record unmatched by anyone who ever played the game.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Roach is Managing Producer for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. You can follow him on Twitter at @JohnJRoach.
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The Hall of Very Good™ Class of 2015 is presented by Out of the Park Developments, the creators of the wildly popular baseball simulation game Out of the Park Baseball. Out of the Park Developments has made a generous donation to The Hall.
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