Would you vote Lee Smith into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
I'm planning to finish these polls today. Then maybe the Jays will do something worth discussing tomorrow. A guy can dream.
I'm skipping Rickie Sexton. He was a really good player, hit .261/.344/.507 with 306 home runs and 943 RBI, over a 12 year career. If he played longer he'd likely have a stronger case. His top years were quite good. He hit 45 home runs twice, and 30 or more homers 6 times. He drove in 100 runs 6 times. He was an All-Star twice. I'd put him in the Hall of very good.
Lee Smith is number 3 on the all time saves list, which is his strongest argument for the Hall. And he was a closer in the old sense of the word, he'd close out games pitching 2 or 3 innings, if needed.
He was an intimidating guy out on the mound. 6'5" and 220, maybe not as scary looking as Jon Rauch but a much better pitcher. He played on 7 All-Star teams, won 3 reliever of the year awards and came in second in the 1991 Cy Young voting.
Right now there are only 5 relief pitchers in the Hall: Goose Gossage, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter and Dennis Eckersley. Smith might not be quite as good as those 5 but he's close.
This is his 12th time on the ballot. Last year he was on 47.8% of the ballots. He's been running between 40 and 50% the last 6 years. I doubt he'll get any more of the vote this year.
| Year | Age | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | Awards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 22 | CHC | 2 | 0 | 2.91 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 21.2 | 21 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 17 | |
| 1981 | 23 | CHC | 3 | 6 | 3.51 | 40 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 66.2 | 57 | 31 | 26 | 2 | 31 | 50 | |
| 1982 | 24 | CHC | 2 | 5 | 2.69 | 72 | 5 | 38 | 17 | 117.0 | 105 | 38 | 35 | 5 | 37 | 99 | |
| 1983 | 25 | CHC | 4 | 10 | 1.65 | 66 | 0 | 56 | 29 | 103.1 | 70 | 23 | 19 | 5 | 41 | 91 | AS,CYA-9,MVP-18 |
| 1984 | 26 | CHC | 9 | 7 | 3.65 | 69 | 0 | 59 | 33 | 101.0 | 98 | 42 | 41 | 6 | 35 | 86 | |
| 1985 | 27 | CHC | 7 | 4 | 3.04 | 65 | 0 | 57 | 33 | 97.2 | 87 | 35 | 33 | 9 | 32 | 112 | |
| 1986 | 28 | CHC | 9 | 9 | 3.09 | 66 | 0 | 59 | 31 | 90.1 | 69 | 32 | 31 | 7 | 42 | 93 | |
| 1987 | 29 | CHC | 4 | 10 | 3.12 | 62 | 0 | 55 | 36 | 83.2 | 84 | 30 | 29 | 4 | 32 | 96 | AS |
| 1988 | 30 | BOS | 4 | 5 | 2.80 | 64 | 0 | 57 | 29 | 83.2 | 72 | 34 | 26 | 7 | 37 | 96 | MVP-21 |
| 1989 | 31 | BOS | 6 | 1 | 3.57 | 64 | 0 | 50 | 25 | 70.2 | 53 | 30 | 28 | 6 | 33 | 96 | |
| 1990 | 32 | TOT | 5 | 5 | 2.06 | 64 | 0 | 53 | 31 | 83.0 | 71 | 24 | 19 | 3 | 29 | 87 | |
| 1990 | 32 | BOS | 2 | 1 | 1.88 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 14.1 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 17 | |
| 1990 | 32 | STL | 3 | 4 | 2.10 | 53 | 0 | 45 | 27 | 68.2 | 58 | 20 | 16 | 3 | 20 | 70 | |
| 1991 | 33 | STL | 6 | 3 | 2.34 | 67 | 0 | 61 | 47 | 73.0 | 70 | 19 | 19 | 5 | 13 | 67 | AS,CYA-2,MVP-8 |
| 1992 | 34 | STL | 4 | 9 | 3.12 | 70 | 0 | 55 | 43 | 75.0 | 62 | 28 | 26 | 4 | 26 | 60 | AS,CYA-4 |
| 1993 | 35 | TOT | 2 | 4 | 3.88 | 63 | 0 | 56 | 46 | 58.0 | 53 | 25 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 60 | AS |
| 1993 | 35 | STL | 2 | 4 | 4.50 | 55 | 0 | 48 | 43 | 50.0 | 49 | 25 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 49 | |
| 1993 | 35 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | |
| 1994 | 36 | BAL | 1 | 4 | 3.29 | 41 | 0 | 39 | 33 | 38.1 | 34 | 16 | 14 | 6 | 11 | 42 | AS,CYA-5,MVP-14 |
| 1995 | 37 | CAL | 0 | 5 | 3.47 | 52 | 0 | 51 | 37 | 49.1 | 42 | 19 | 19 | 3 | 25 | 43 | AS |
| 1996 | 38 | TOT | 3 | 4 | 3.74 | 54 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 55.1 | 57 | 24 | 23 | 4 | 26 | 41 | |
| 1996 | 38 | CAL | 0 | 0 | 2.45 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 11.0 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | |
| 1996 | 38 | CIN | 3 | 4 | 4.06 | 43 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 44.1 | 49 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 23 | 35 | |
| 1997 | 39 | MON | 0 | 1 | 5.82 | 25 | 0 | 14 | 5 | 21.2 | 28 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 15 | |
| 18 Yrs | 71 | 92 | 3.03 | 1022 | 6 | 802 | 478 | 1289.1 | 1133 | 475 | 434 | 89 | 486 | 1251 | |||