Category profile
- Dominance
- 84
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 92
- Honours
- 84
- Statistics
- 94
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 17 | |
| 1983 | 29 | |
| 1984 | 33 | |
| 1985 | 33 | |
| 1986 | 31 | |
| 1987 | 36 | |
| 1988 | 29 | |
| 1989 | 25 | |
| 1990 | 31 | |
| 1991 | 47 | |
| 1992 | 43 | |
| 1993 | 46 | |
| 1994 | 33 | |
| 1995 | 37 | |
| 1996 | 2 | |
| 1997 | 5 |
Data sources
- MLB.com
- Baseball Reference
- National Baseball Hall of Fame
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Lee Smith ranks #56 in Baseball
Lee Smith ranks 56th among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 1167th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 88.7 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 84, Peak 92, Longevity 92, Honours 84, Statistics 94. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 262 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1980–1997 with 17 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1991, which sets the Peak component at 92. Statistics is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 15% of the final score. The underlying career record includes career saves 478, all-star selections 7, save titles 4, games pitched 1022.
Immediately ahead sits Paul Molitor on 88.7, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Kenley Jansen on 88.7. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Lee Smith GOAT Score explained
- Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Smith stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1991. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity92/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 17 years of competition and 17 recorded seasons. Scored 92/100.
- Honours84/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 84/100.
- Statistics94/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 94/100.
Top Smith comparisons
Lee Smith — frequently asked
- Is Lee Smith the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Lee Smith ranks 56th in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 88.7, behind Babe Ruth on 94.6.
- What is Lee Smith's GOAT Score?
- 88.7 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 92 (20%), Honours 84 (20%), Statistics 94 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Lee Smith rank all time?
- 1167th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 56th within Baseball.
- Lee Smith vs Paul Molitor: who ranks higher?
- Lee Smith, on 88.7 against Paul Molitor's 88.7 — a margin of 0.0 points.