Lee Arthur Smith
December 14, 2008When I was instructing last summer at MLB’s Euro Academy in Italy, I had the pleasure to work with Big Lee Smith. Despite having faced him numerous times over the years and hearing a lot about him, this was my first face to face encounter. He’s huge, he’s a great guy, when he grips a baseball in his hand it looks like a golf ball, he’s super funny, you can’t understand but maybe half of what he says, he’s a good instructor, when he throws BP he can still be unhittable, and he is one of the true characters of the game. 
Lee Arthur was one of the greatest closers of all time and the rumors of his sleeping habits were legendary. Naturally, when I finally met him, this was the first thing I asked him about. To make a long story short, apparently Big Lee would get to the ballpark, go through BP and all the pre game junk, then when the game started he would curl up somewhere and go to sleep. He’d tell the trainer to wake him up in the 7th inning or so if there was any possibility of him going in. Other than that, he said just let him sleep. Classic. Big Lee spent many a year playing for the Cubbies and he told me that there were numerous occasions when he knocked off at the beginning of a game only to wake up to find the stadium empty and no one left in the clubhouse. He had slept soundly through the whole thing! It was so funny to hear him tell me this and to recall him lumbering across the field towards the bullpen in the 7th or 8th inning of a game. I remember always thinking that he looked like a bear just out of hibernation….turns out I wasn’t that far off. The last thing that I’ll add about Big Lee is that he ought to be in the Hall of Fame. I’m mystified that he’s not. He’s got like 460 something saves (2nd all time), was an all-star many times, was a great teammate, was pleasant and kind to the press, and was/is a great ambassador for the game of baseball. What are they waiting for?
If this guy was available in this baseball market there would not be enough money to sign him…okay so maybe the Yankee’s.
the Yankee’s might make him his own sleeping room in the new stadium.
The Lee Arthur Cave;I like it! K Long told me the home clubhouse in the House that Ruth didn’t build starts even with the on deck circle on the first base side and goes all the way down to the right field foul pole; internet hook up in each locker etc. etc. I can hear it now when they interview the winning quarteback from the Superbowl, Billy Bob you’ve just won the Superbowl! now what are you gonna do?”I’m going to the Yankee’s Clubhouse!”
Okay BMayne you got my imagination going with the sleeping cave. Lee Arthur signs for Forrest Gump money with the Yanks. The Lee Arthur cave is built 3 stories below the foundation of the new stadium. You take an elevator to get there and it’s dark with a rock facade with a 3 inch big glass window. You get off the elevator and there’s a group of school kids banging on the glass as Big Lee lays on his side with his back to the kids sleeping like a big grizzly in North Dakota in the dead of winter.
Nice twisted mind. It would be kind of like one of those dioramas at the Natural History Museum in NYC right?
We’re catchin’ the same wave! Hey, what”s a diorama?
You know the movie “Night at the Museum”? It’s those super detailed, looks super real, stuffed animal or Indian or cave man scenes behind glass.
Just Google “American Museum of Natural History dioramas” and check out the images.
The Lee Arthur Diorama. You nailed it!
My word of the day: was making a thaumatrope with my kids this morning;cool stuff.