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Originally Posted by joefromchicago
Am I the only one here who doesn't think Lee "Three-Run Homer" Smith should be in the Hall of Fame? Maybe that's because I saw him play. When his fastball was working, he was unhittable. When it wasn't (and that was a maddeningly frequent occurrence), it was "so long Mr. Spalding."
As for his numbers, I don't think they're all that special. I've long held that the save is the most overrated stat in sports, let alone baseball. But even in that stat he only led his league four times over his career. He never won the Cy Young or MVP awards, something that even Willie Hernandez was able to accomplish. He's third on the all-time list for saves, but there's a pretty significant gap - 123 saves - between him and the guy in second place (Trevor Hoffman). Craig Kimbrel, who has only pitched nine seasons, is about that far behind Smith right now.
He wasn't an innovator, like Hoyt Wilhelm or Bruce Sutter. He wasn't a dominant reliever for an extended period, like Mariano Rivera. He wasn't the answer to a trivia question, like Dennis Eckersley. He was just an above-average player for a long time, but then so were a lot of other people from that era, like Dave Parker and Bill Madlock, who aren't in the HofF.
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A 132 ERA+, 2.93 FIP, 7.9 H/9, 0.6 HR/9 (which suggests that your memory of him as a guy that gave up lots of homers is more subjective, and not borne out by the actual numbers), 3.4 BB/9, 8.7 K/9 (in an era when strikeouts were nowhere near as common as they are today) across almost 1300 IP suggest that they probably got it right. Relief pitcher is the toughest position to judge for the HoF. It's been a position in the game for the shortest amount of time of all the positions.
If I had to, I would put him somewhere between #6 and #10 all-time among relievers. I don't count guys like Dennis Eckersley and Tom Gordon and others who pitched more innings as SP than as RP, when I'm trying to sort out who's an SP and who's an RP. I think he was every bit as good, if not better than Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, and Dan Quisenberry. Candy Cummings is in the Hall for the curveball, which is a bit of a joke, and that's the same sort of thing that I think got Sutter into the Hall (split-finger). I didn't use to think that Smith belonged, but I've come around on him. I would say he's a borderline HoFer, but for me he's borderline-in.
I don't think Cy Youngs and MVPs should be given to a reliever except in exceptional circumstances, particularly the MVP, so I look past that. He won 3 Rolaids Relief Awards, and was a 7-time All-Star, so he was very highly thought of. Usually the Rolaids Relief Awards were given out to the guy with the highest save total, so you have to take that into consideration as to how highly you value that award. Also All-Star games are a bit of a popularity contest, and once you get named to one or two, you tend to keep getting invited back. Nonetheless, he was definitely one of the best relief pitchers of his era, and I would argue that he was the best reliever in the game between 1982 and 1991, which is a ten year period.
I think the best thing about the Hall of Fame is the debates that take place over those that get in and those that don't. I don't know about the other sports, but it seems like the baseball Hall of Fame is the one that attracts by far the most passion. That's a good thing.
