Bio
- Height
- 6' 6"
- Debut
- 1980
Bio
- Height
- 6' 6"
- Debut
- 1980
Stats
Standard
Career regular season
- GP
- 1,022
- W
- 71
- L
- 92
- ERA
- 3.03
- IP
- 1290.0
- K
- 1,251
- BB
- 486
- WHIP
- 1.26
Ranked among MLB players who qualify (W, IP, K: 10+ games; ERA, WHIP: 100+ IP) that season; only the top 50 are shown. How each stat qualifies: glossary.
| GP: Games the player appeared in, however briefly. | W: Games in which this pitcher was credited with the win. | L: Games in which this pitcher was charged with the loss. | ERA: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched — lower is better. Under 3.00 is excellent. | IP: Innings pitched. The decimal counts outs, so 6.2 is six innings and two more outs. | K: Batters this pitcher struck out. | BB: Times the batter reached first base on four balls. | WHIP: Walks and hits allowed per inning pitched — lower is better. Around 1.00 is elite. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | CHC | 18 | 2 | 0 | 2.86 | 22.0 | 17 | 14 | 1.59 |
| 1981 | CHC | 40 | 3 | 6 | 3.49 | 67.0 | 50 | 31 | 1.31 |
| 1982 | CHC | 72 | 2 | 5 | 2.69 | 117.0 | 99 | 37 | 1.21 |
| 1983 | CHC | 66 | 4 | 10 | 1.65 | 103.1 | 91 | 41 | 1.07 |
| 1984 | CHC | 69 | 9 | 7 | 3.65 | 101.0 | 86 | 35 | 1.32 |
| 1985 | CHC | 65 | 7 | 4 | 3.04 | 97.2 | 112 | 32 | 1.22 |
| 1986 | CHC | 66 | 9 | 9 | 3.09 | 90.1 | 93 | 42 | 1.23 |
| 1987 | CHC | 62 | 4 | 10 | 3.12 | 83.2 | 96 | 32 | 1.39 |
| 1988 | BOS | 64 | 4 | 5 | 2.80 | 83.2 | 96 | 37 | 1.30 |
| 1989 | BOS | 64 | 6 | 1 | 3.57 | 70.2 | 96 | 33 | 1.22 |
| 1990 |  BOS/STL | 64 | 5 | 5 | 2.06 | 83.0 | 87 | 29 | 1.20 |
| 1991 | STL | 67 | 6 | 3 | 2.34 | 73.0 | 67 | 13 | 1.14 |
| 1992 | STL | 70 | 4 | 9 | 3.12 | 75.0 | 60 | 26 | 1.17 |
| 1993 |  STL/NYY | 63 | 2 | 4 | 3.88 | 58.0 | 60 | 14 | 1.16 |
| 1994 | BAL | 41 | 1 | 4 | 3.29 | 38.1 | 42 | 11 | 1.17 |
| 1995 | LAA | 52 | 0 | 5 | 3.47 | 49.1 | 43 | 25 | 1.36 |
| 1996 |  LAA/CIN | 54 | 3 | 4 | 3.74 | 55.1 | 41 | 26 | 1.50 |
| 1997 | WSH | 25 | 0 | 1 | 5.82 | 21.2 | 15 | 8 | 1.66 |
Career Postseason
- GP
- 4
- W
- 0
- L
- 2
- ERA
- 9.00
- IP
- 5.0
- K
- 7
- BB
- 1
- WHIP
- 2.00
Expanded
Career regular season
- QS
- 3
- CG
- 0
- SHO
- 0
- K/9
- 8.7
- GB
- 0
- FB
- 0
- G/F
- 0.00
- WP
- 47
Ranked among MLB players who qualify (QS, CG, SHO: 10+ GS; K/9: 100+ IP) that season; only the top 50 are shown. How each stat qualifies: glossary.
| QS: Quality starts: six innings or more with no more than three earned runs. | CG: Complete games, pitched from the first out to the last. | SHO: Shutouts — complete games with no run allowed. | K/9: Strikeouts for every nine innings pitched. | GB: Ground balls hit against this pitcher. | FB: Fly balls hit against this pitcher. | G/F: Ground balls for every fly ball hit against this pitcher. | WP: Wild pitches — throws the catcher had no chance to stop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1981 | CHC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 1982 | CHC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 1983 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 1984 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 1985 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1986 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1987 | CHC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 1988 | BOS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1989 | BOS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1990 | BOS/STL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1991 | STL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1992 | STL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1993 | STL/NYY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1994 | BAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | LAA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1996 | LAA/CIN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1997 | WSH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What were Lee Smith's career stats?
Lee Smith played 18 seasons for the Cubs, the Red Sox, the Cardinals, the Orioles, the Angels and the Nationals. He had 71 wins and 1,251 strikeouts with a 3.03 ERA over 1,290.0 innings. His best season was 1984: 9 wins, a 3.65 ERA and 86 strikeouts.
League leaderboards and awards
18 seasons, 2 postseasons, 1980 to 1997
Lee Smith led MLB in saves (1991, 1994); finished top 10 in a stat 14 times; sits top 10 all time in saves.
All-time career rank
- 4th in saves (478)
Among the 8,943 MLB players with a career line on file, regular season. A place deeper than 300th is not listed.
Season top 10 finishes
- ERA: 1983 (2nd)
- Saves: 1983 (4th), 1984 (4th), 1985 (3rd), 1986 (6th), 1987 (2nd), 1988 (8th), 1990 (8th), 1991 (1st), 1992 (2nd), 1993 (3rd), 1994 (1st), 1995 (3rd)
- WHIP: 1983 (6th)
Among qualified MLB players each season, as the glossary defines each stat. All-time places are among players on file.
More on Lee Smith
Similar players
Closest career per-game profiles to Lee Smith among MLB players at the same position.
- Todd WorrellAlike in Saves, ERA, WHIP90out of 100 on profile similarity
- Armando BenitezAlike in Saves, ERA, WHIP87out of 100 on profile similarity
- Randy MyersAlike in Saves, ERA, WHIP87out of 100 on profile similarity
- Jason IsringhausenAlike in Saves, WHIP, ERA87out of 100 on profile similarity
- Doug JonesAlike in Saves, WHIP, ERA86out of 100 on profile similarity
Compare Lee Smith with Todd Worrell, Armando Benitez, Randy Myers