Chicago Cubs: A long-overdue Hall of Fame induction for Lee Smith

It took far too long, but this weekend, former Chicago Cubs closer Lee Smith joins the ranks of the best players ever in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer guy than former Chicago Cubs closer Lee Smith. On the multiple occasions I’ve interacted with the 61-year-old soon-to-be Hall of Famer, he’s always had a beaming smile on his face and graciousness that’s truly difficult to put into words.

After missing out on induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame 15 times, the Today’s Game Committee unanimously elected Smith last December. This weekend, Smith will join fellow inductees Harold Baines, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, Al Helfer, Jayson Stark and the late Roy Halladay in Cooperstown for an honor that’s long overdue.

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The game has changed a great deal since Smith last took a big-league mound back in 1997. For example, the team he last pitched for, the Montreal Expos, don’t even exist anymore. Today, teams focus heavily on their bullpen, as relievers become more and more important – especially come October. But back then, that simply wasn’t the case.

“Back then, it was somewhat a slap in the face to become a relief pitcher,” Smith told the Chicago Tribune this past winter. “Most of the starters wanted to go nine (innings), so you didn’t know anyone that wanted to pitch (in relief) then. But actually the game started to evolve a couple years after that with the Bruce Sutters and Rich Gossages and those guys like that, and (managers) wanted to get (the ball) to a closer.

When Smith hung up his cleats, he was baseball’s all-time saves leader, with 478. Since then, he’s been surpassed by the likes of Rivera, who will enter the Hall as the first-ever unanimous selection, and Trevor Hoffman, who joined baseball immortality in Cooperstown last summer.

It’s nothing short of insanity that it took this long for Smith to receive this honor. The imposing right-hander revolutionized the closer role during his career, earning three Rolaids Relief Man of the Year awards and seven All-Star selections.

But it all started when the Chicago Cubs selected Smith out of Northwestern State University of Louisiana in the second round back in 1975. Five years later, he made his Major League debut – and the rest, as they say, is history.

He finished in the Top 10 in Cy Young voting on four separate occasions, finishing as the runner-up in 1991 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. That season, he finished a league-leading 61 contests and racked up 47 saves to go along with a 2.45 FIP and 5.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Despite his four very successful years as a Redbird, there was little doubt which cap he would don when he got the call, though.

“It’s definitely going to have to be a Cubbie, man,” he said. “There were a lot of great teams I played for because Smitty’s been around. But the Cubs gave me my first chance in the big leagues, and the Cubs gave me a World Series ring. … Wherever you start at, it’s something in your heart that’s always there.”

So this weekend, tune in and watch one of the best to ever play the game take his place in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. He might not be the flashiest name in this year’s class, but he’s one of the most deserving – and one of the best guys you’ll ever meet.