Top Ten All Time Chicago Cubs By Position

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Closer — Lee Smith (1980-1987)

In 458 career games as a Cub, Lee Arthur Smith had a 40-51 record, with a 2.92 ERA with 180 saves. He even had six starts.

He had his best year in 1983 when he led the league with 29 saves and had a 1.65 ERA. He threw 103 and 1/3 innings. He finished ninth in the National League in Cy Young voting and eighteenth in MVP voting.

Smith went largely under-appreciated throughout his career. He is still not in the Hall of Fame (just unfathomable), even though he retired with the all-time record for saves (478) until Trevor Hoffman passed him.

With Chicago, people were concerned with some of the games he blew rather than the games he closed. He had four straight seasons with 30+ saves in Chicago.

Smith always looked like he was exhausted from his bullpen work before coming to the mound. He walked slowly to that mound before he reached out and threw 98 mile-per-hour fastballs.

Well, there you have it, my list of the top Chicago Cubs players of all time. There are some surprises there, I am sure. Some were no-brainers.

What do you think? Where did I get it wrong? Let me know your feelings.

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