Terrible Card Tuesday: 1982 Lee Smith

I know what you’re thinking.  This isn’t a Terrible Card, not really.  It’s kind of a Monster Card for two numbers and then goes to crap.  You have to admit Lee Smith’s card from IS a weird one and probably shows the biggest drop off from power to practically nothing. 

Smith’s two ones is pretty spot on as he hit one homerun in 18 plate appearances (figuring out to two 1s in 36 possible results).  The same can be said for his only other possible offensive result, the two 14s. 

It’s interesting to note that Lee Smith started five games in ‘82.  This would be the last time he would start a game in his career.  Maybe it’s my Cub bias showing but a C(B*) seems a bit harsh for his nifty 2.69 ERA.  Of course, if I’m not mistaken, APBA was more prone to downgrading pitchers (and players in general) in the past if they didn’t play full time.  Smith only pitched 117 innings in 1982.  One could argue that Smith’s Z rating and perhaps the league/era he pitched in may not helped his cause.

One last note on Lee Smith:  this was the year before Smith’s breakthrough year in 1983.  That year he led the NL in saves with 29 and lowered his ERA to a mean 1.65.  He actually accumulated 22 at-bats in 1983 and 1984 combined despite not starting any games (remember when relievers were expected to actually bat now and then?).

As a side note, it confuzzles me sometimes how APBA rated some pitchers as Slow.  I usually have a couple slow hurlers on my league team each year.  I guess what I don’t understand is how American League pitchers who didn’t run the bases all year can be rated medium compared to those who actually ran the paths.