Zane Smith

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#EAC117
bgcolor2=#000000
textcolor1=black
textcolor2=white
name=Zane Smith
position=Pitcher
bats=Left
throws=Left
birthdate=birth date and age|1960|12|28, Madison, Wisconsin
debutdate=September 10
debutyear=1984
debutteam=Atlanta Braves
finaldate=July 5
finalyear=1996
finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
stat1label=Record
stat1value=100-115
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=3.74
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=1011
teams =
*Atlanta Braves (by|1984-by|1989)
*Montreal Expos (by|1989-by|1990)
*Pittsburgh Pirates (by|1990-by|1994, by|1996)
*Boston Red Sox (by|1995)
highlights =
*Led NL in Sacrifice Hits (14) and Games Started (36) in 1987
*Led NL in Walks/9IP (1.14) and Strikeouts to Walks (4.14) in 1991 Zane William Smith (born December 28, 1960 in Madison, Wisconsin) is a former American Major League baseball player.

Career

Smith, a left-handed pitcher, played collegiately at Indiana State University. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 3rd round of the 1982 amateur draft and made his Major League debut on September 10, 1984 for Atlanta. His first successful season was 1987 with the Braves, when he led the team with 15 wins, nearly twice as many as any other Braves pitcher on a team with only 69 wins. He was among the league leaders in wins (tied 5th), innings pitched(5th), games started (tied 1st), complete games(4th) and shutouts (tied 3rd).

Smith was traded from Atlanta to the Montreal Expos on July 2, 1989 for Sergio Valdez, Nate Minchey and minor leaguer Kevin Dean. Just over a year later, on August 8, 1990, Smith was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Scott Ruskin, Willie Greene and Moisés Alou. The trade allowed the Pirates to hold off the New York Mets down the stretch and win the National League Eastern Division pennant. Smith contributed by winning 6 games, 3 of them complete games, 2 of those shutouts, while losing only 2, and compiling a 1.30 ERA. It was during this season that Smith had his best performance, a 1 hit complete game shutout of the Mets in the first game of a double header sweep that gave the Pirates a 2.5 game lead over the Mets.

Smith played with the Pirates through the 1994 season before signing as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox on April 18, 1995. Smith did not have much success during the 1995 season for Boston. The next offseason, he returned to the Pirates for a salary that was significantly reduced from the $3.125 million he earned in 1994. Smith pitched his final career game for the Pirates on July 5, 1996; he would be released by the Pirates the following day.

Highlights

On May 1, 1986 Smith struck out 12 Mets to end New York's club record tying 11 game win streak. On July 13, 1986 Al Newman hits his only career home run off Smith, Newman was traded to the American League where he would bat 1,893 more times without a home run, an AL record. On July 9, 1987 Smith gives up a home run to Mike Schmidt, it was Schmidt's 513th, and placed him 10th all-time, ahead of Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks. On April 17, 1988 Smith gets Atlanta's first victory of the season, ending a 10 game season-opening losing streak that set an NL record. On October 3, 1995 Smith gives up a walk-off home run to Tony Pena to end Game 1 of the 1995 American League Division Series.He has 3 children and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

ee also

* Montreal Expos all-time roster

External links

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