User:Nishkid64/Lee Smith (baseball player)

Lee Smith is a former American Major League Baseball relief pitcher. A native of Castor, Louisiana, Smith was scouted by Buck O'Neil and drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 Major League Baseball Draft. In his 18-year professional baseball career from 1980 through 1997, Smith played for eight teams; his longest tenure with one team was with the Chicago Cubs, with whom he spent his first eight seasons. He was known as an intimidating figure on the pitcher's mound at 6 feet, 6 inches (1.98 m) and 265 pounds (120.2 kg) with a 95 mile per hour (150 km/h) fastball. As a closer, Smith's 478 saves were the most all-time until San Diego Padres relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman broke his record on September 24, 2006.

Smith also set the career record for games finished, and he is tied for eighth place on the all-time list for career games pitched, as of the conclusion of the 2007 season. Smith has been a candidate for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame since 2003, but he has failed to receive the mandatory 75 percent of votes needed on all total ballots cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America. After the end of his Major League Baseball career, Smith spent time working as a pitching instructor at the minor-league level with the San Francisco Giants. He then served as the pitching coach for the South Africa national baseball team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and afterwards continued his previous job as a minor-league roving pitching instructor for the Giants. (more...)

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