Lee Arthur Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player who was a pitcher for 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019 by the Today’s Game Era Committee. (Source: Wikipedia)
Baseball has certainly played a large cultural role in the United States since the latter half of the 19th Century. The first officially recognized game ever played occurred in 1846. Seventy years after the signging of the Declaration of Independence, fifteen years before the beginning of the Civil War, and one hundred and thirty years before I was born.
As a kid, my favorite team was the Chicago Cubs. My older brother was a Cubs fan and I guess that was a good enough reason for me to be one, too. The Cubs of the early 1980s were the first team I put personal attachment on across all sports.
Without looking, I can still do the whole field from memory. Catcher, Jody Davis. First baseman, Leon Durham Second base, Ryne Sandberg (RIP). Shortstop, Larry Bows. Third base, the Penguin Ron Cey. The outfield consisted of Gary Matthews, Bob Dernier, and Keith Moreland.
In those days it wasn’t as easy to see baseball games. The Cubs didn’t play night games, we didn’t have cable tv, and although we did have WGN where the Cubs played their games, I wasn’t old enough to always be in control of what was on the tv. All of that said, it was magical to watch the games when I could. Harry Caray and Steve Stone in the tv booth explained baseball and America to me.
My favorite player in those early days was relief pitcher Lee Smith. He came in from the bullpen with a slow pace that was more intimidating than anything else. He looked like he meant business and he did. (Sidenote: In reading about Smith’s noteworthy walk from the bullpen, I’ve since learned that he did it because he knew if a game went past a certain time the groundskeepers and others would get paid overtime). Lee Smith, in my eight year old brain was the coolest dude on the planet.
“I had a lot of friends on the grounds crew at Wrigley Field. I found out they got time and a half if the game went past 4:30 p.m. So, I took my time getting to the mound. The slow walk to the mound became part of my routine.”
The generations before me had their Koufax, the Gashouse Gang, Satchel Paige, Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson–I had Lee Smith and that slow walk that gave confidence to his allies and struck fear in the heart of his opponents.
Baseball, like professional wrestling, is responsible for so much of the mythology I still cling to at 50. The heroes, the legends, the scumbags, the overachievers, the underdogs, the fleeting sense of that could be me if I train hard enough–all of them thoughts that have cycled through my head even after the realization that I have aged out of some considerations.