1992 McDonald's/Pacific #53 Lee Smith
On January 6, The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced the members of the 2016 induction class. In Smith's 14th year on the ballot he was left out again, appearing on only 34.1% of the ballots (75% is needed for induction). In the meantime, Trevor Hoffman skyrocketed to 5th in voting, appearing on 67.3% of ballots in his first year on the ballot. It isn't surprising considering Hoffman posted 601 saves vs. Smith's 478 saves and a career 2.87 ERA vs. Smith's 3.03 lifetime ERA. The only argument that one could make for Smith is that he posted those numbers while playing for some terrible Cubs teams in the 1980s and some equally poor Cardinals teams in the 1990s. He'll have one more year to get it done before he's removed from the ballot. After that, it's up to the Veterans Committee.
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