Draft and minor leagues At age 17, Smith was selected in the second round of the
1975 MLB draft by the
Chicago Cubs with the 28th overall pick. The Cubs, via O'Neil, were able to get Smith under contract for a $50,000
signing bonus plus $8,000 for his education. He played in
Class A in 1976 and 1977 with the
Pompano Beach Cubs, then in
Double-A during 1978 and 1979 with the
Midland Cubs. Smith returned to Midland in 1979, lowering his
earned run average (ERA) by a full run compared to the prior season (5.98 to 4.93). on September 1, 1980, He pitched a scoreless inning and recorded his first MLB strikeout, coming against
Glenn Hubbard. His first major league save came on August 29, Smith had an ERA of 3.94 through early June, He finished the season with an ERA of 3.51 and a 3–6 record, coming in 39 relief appearances plus a single start at the end of the season. Smith also started five games between June 16 and July 5, registering a
no decision followed by four consecutive losses. These five starts, along with the start at the end of the 1981 season, were the only six starts that Smith made during his major league career. a second-inning
home run off of
Phil Niekro. Smith only collected two additional hits, one each in 1983 and 1984, registering a career
batting average of .047 (3-for-64).
Ferguson Jenkins, who had pitched for the Cubs from 1966 to 1973, returned to the Cubs for the final two seasons of his career, 1982 and 1983. Years later, Smith credited Jenkins with simplifying his delivery, introducing him to the
slider and
forkball, and teaching him how to set up hitters. Smith subsequently led the Cubs in games finished and saves for each of the 1983 through 1987 seasons. During his first 10 appearances of 1983, Smith allowed no runs while allowing only three hits and
striking out 12 batters in innings pitched; his ERA was not above 1.85 at any point during the year. His overall 1.65 ERA for the season proved to be the lowest of his major league career, and he also posted a career-best 1.074
WHIP. Smith was selected to his first
All-Star Game, Smith received a point in the NL's
Cy Young Award voting and eight points in the NL
Most Valuable Player Award voting. The 1984 Cubs made the franchise's first postseason appearance since 1945, and were the first of only two playoff teams that Smith played for (the other being the 1988 Red Sox). In Game 2, Smith earned the save in a 4–2 Cubs win by recording the final two outs. The win gave the Cubs a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five series, but the
San Diego Padres won the next three games to deny the Cubs a berth in the
1984 World Series. Smith took the loss in Game 4: entering in the bottom of the eighth with the game tied, 5–5, he allowed one hit and kept the game tied; in the bottom of the ninth, he allowed a one-out single to
Tony Gwynn, followed by a two-run
walk-off home run by
Steve Garvey to force a deciding fifth game. Smith did not pitch in Game 5, and San Diego won the final game of the series with a score of 6–3. In 1985, Smith for the first time dominated the league in strikeouts as a relief pitcher. After averaging fewer than eight
strikeouts per nine innings in each prior season, he improved to 10.32 in 1985. He finished the season with a career-high 112 strikeouts in only innings pitched. With his 30th save in 1987, Smith became only the second pitcher (joining
Dan Quisenberry) to reach the mark in four consecutive seasons. One player told writers
Bruce Nash and
Allan Zullo for their book,
Baseball Confidential, that one of the most daunting sights in the majors was Smith throwing "pure gas from out of the shadows" of
Wrigley Field, which did not have lights at the time. Despite his numbers, rumors were swirling about his weight and its effect on his knees, and his request for a trade out of Chicago. On December 8, Smith, the team's career leader in saves, was traded to the
Boston Red Sox for pitchers
Al Nipper and
Calvin Schiraldi. While Smith registered nearly 300 saves after the trade, while Schiraldi was out of baseball before age 30.
Boston Red Sox (1988–1990) The
Boston Red Sox finished the 1987 season with a losing record, at 78–84. One of the main problems was a weak
bullpen, leading to Boston's acquisition of Smith in December 1987. Despite giving up a game-winning home run in his 1988
Opening Day debut at
Fenway Park, Smith posted an ERA of 2.80 in 64 regular season appearances, his lowest ERA since 1983 (1.65). In Smith's second (and final) appearance in the postseason, he made two appearances in the
AL Championship Series. In Game 4, with Boston down three games to none and trailing 2–1, Smith allowed two insurance runs in the eighth inning as Oakland completed the series sweep. Entering 1989, Smith's salary rose to $1.425 million. For the 1980s, Smith recorded 234 saves in 580 MLB relief appearances, with an ERA of 2.95. with Reardon recording 264 saves in 507 relief appearances with a 3.06 ERA for the decade. In December 1989, the Red Sox signed
free agent Reardon to a three-year, $6.8 million contract. During the first month of the 1990 season, both Smith and Reardon pitched for the Red Sox, with Smith earning four saves and Reardon earning one. On May 4, the Red Sox chose to bolster their offense and traded Smith to the
St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder
Tom Brunansky. Overall in his two-plus seasons in Boston, Smith had appeared in 139 games while collecting 58 saves; in innings pitched he struck out 209 batters. He made 53 appearances with the 1990 Cardinals, registering 27 saves with a 2.10 ERA while striking out 70 batters in innings. The team, however, finished at 70–92 and in last place. In 1991, St. Louis improved to 84–78, With Smith's salary roughly doubled to nearly $2.8 million, received the most significant consideration for league
MVP in his career (finishing eighth in NL MVP voting), Smith again led the NL in saves in 1992, registering 43. In 70 appearances, he struck out 60 batters in 75 innings, while recording a 3.12 ERA; he had last committed an error in a National League game on June 30, 1982, while with the Cubs. This span of 546 appearances was the NL record for consecutive errorless games by a pitcher until broken by
Heath Bell in 2013. In 1993, Smith passed Jeff Reardon in MLB career saves on April 13 with save number 358, and passed Bruce Sutter on April 14 for the National League's career saves record, recording NL save number 301, compiled with the Cubs and Cardinals. In June, Smith had 15 saves, which set an MLB record for the most saves in any month. On August 31, with St. Louis 10
games behind the
Philadelphia Phillies, seemingly out of contention, and with Smith poised to become a free agent after the season, the Cardinals traded Smith to the Yankees for reliever
Rich Batchelor. With St. Louis, Smith recorded 43 saves in 55 appearances during 1993, striking out 49 batters in 50 innings, albeit with a 4.50 ERA. Smith's NL single-season record of 47 saves was bested by both
Rod Beck of the
San Francisco Giants and
Randy Myers of the Cubs two years later, with 48 and 53 saves respectively.
New York Yankees (1993) The Yankees were just
games behind the
Toronto Blue Jays when they acquired Smith. In eight appearances for the Yankees, Smith did not allow any runs and picked up three saves and 11 strikeouts in eight innings pitched. The team went 11–15 during September as Toronto won the division by seven games. Smith filed for free agency after the season.
Baltimore Orioles (1994) Smith signed with the
Baltimore Orioles for the 1994 season for $1.5 million plus incentives. At age 36, he had his most successful season; in his first 12 games, he had 12 saves and a 0.00 ERA. After nearly two months, his ERA was under 1.00 and it was still under 2.00 in mid-July. Smith's bad streak continued for the next several weeks until the
1994–95 Major League Baseball strike ended the season. In the strike-shortened campaign, Smith recorded 33 saves with a 3.29 ERA and captured his third (and final) Rolaids Relief Man Award. On June 11, he saved his 16th consecutive game to break the major league record set by
Doug Jones in 1988. He ran his streak to 19 games before losing a save game on June 28; Smith's record was broken by
John Wetteland, who saved 24 straight the next year. Smith did not fare well for the next month, pushing his ERA up to 5.40. The Angels held a double-digit lead in the division and seemed poised for the postseason. However, the Angels went 14–29 in their final 43 games to finish in a tie with the
Seattle Mariners atop the
AL West, then lost the
tie-breaker game to miss the playoffs. Despite the team's difficulties, Smith pitched effectively during August and September, registering 13 saves against a single blown save. Early in the 1996 season, Smith spent time on the
disabled list following offseason surgery—he had torn a tendon in his right knee while on a hunting trip—and second-year pitcher
Troy Percival established himself as the Angels' closer. Smith was briefly with the
Lake Elsinore Storm on a rehabilitation assignment, his first time in the minor leagues since 1980. Upon his return to the Angels, Smith was unhappy with an inconsistent role, commenting, "I could write a movie about the past few weeks... but it would have to be a cartoon." He pitched in a total of 11 games for the Angels during April and May, then was traded to the
Cincinnati Reds.
Cincinnati Reds (1996) Smith was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for reliever
Chuck McElroy on May 27, 1996. Smith assumed setup duty for the Reds as closer
Jeff Brantley was en route to a career-high 44 saves. In his return to the National League, Smith appeared in 43 games and registered two saves; while for the full season he logged 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, the lowest to that point in his career.
Montreal Expos (1997) Smith was picked up by the
Montreal Expos for 1997 on a $400,000 contract. This was Smith's final season of his career. His last game of the season, and his career, was two innings of extra-innings relief during an interleague
rivalry game won by Toronto on July 2. After posting career-worsts in ERA (5.82),
hits per nine innings (11.63) and several other statistics, Smith announced his retirement on July 15.
Post-playing career Despite his retirement announcement, the
Kansas City Royals signed Smith as a free agent and invited him to
spring training for 1998. In late March, he refused a minor-league assignment and left training camp. In early June, he signed a minor-league deal with the
Houston Astros, appearing in two Double-A games with the
Jackson Generals and 10 Triple-A games with the
New Orleans Zephyrs. and retired again. Over the course of his career in the major leagues, Smith appeared in 1,022 games, accruing a 7192 win–loss record to go along with his 478 saves. His career ERA was 3.03, and he struck out 1,251 batters. ==Post-retirement==