Saturday, January 16, 2010

Peter John Smith

Pete Smith 1998

I used Pete's middle name in the title to differentiate him from the Pete Smith who pitched for Boston in the early '60s. Just to avoid confusion, ya know.

This Pete Smith was drafted by the Phillies in the first round of the 1984 draft and was traded to the Braves after the 1985 season. They hoped that he would develop into a front of the rotation starter along with Tom Glavine and John Smoltz but Pete's career path didn't go in that direction. He ended up pitching in the Majors for 11 seasons, 7 of those with the Braves, but had a career record of 47-71 in 231 games, including 163 starts.

Pete came to the O's in a trade from the Padres for Minor Leaguer, Eric Estes, on June 9, 1998. His time with the Orioles was the only part of his career he spent in the American League and he retired after his half-season in Birdland. (No jokes about that one, please)

In his half season with the O's, Pete went 2-3 with 2 holds, a blown save and a 6.20 ERA in 45 innings; he appeared in a total of 27 games including four starts. I notice that he also allowed 7 HRs over those games, so maybe it was time to hang up the spikes. Those are some Guthrie-esque HR totals. Oh yeah, I went there! Zing!

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