Lee Smith became the all-time saves leader as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-7. Smith got his 358th save, passing (former Minnesota Twin) Jeff Reardon.

The Save is a relatively new stat in baseball. It did not become an official stat until 1969 And the rules for getting a Save have changed over the year. The current MLB rule is:

The official scorer shall credit a pitcher with a Save when such pitcher meets all four of the following conditions:

1. He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team;
2. He is not the winning pitcher;
3. He is credited with at least ⅓ of an inning pitched; and
4. He satisfies one of the following conditions:
   1. He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning
   2. He enters the game with the potential tying run either on base, at bat or on deck
   3. He pitches for at least three innings.

The Save is a weird stat because it has this convoluted criteria. Many have also pointed out that the existence of the stat may have caused a distortion in the way that baseball managers for awhile managed their staffs. For years, every team had a dedicated Closer who came into the game in the 9th no matter how well the current starter or reliever was pitching. It still happens, but it does not seem so automatic any more.

Lee Smith was the archetypal Closer. He was a big dude (6’5″), threw hard, and had a great way of glaring at the batter. Jeff Reardon, who was the closer for the Twins when they won the 1987 World Series, had the same kind of glare.

Lee Smith ended his career with 478 Saves. Two current pitchers have 400+ Saves: Kenley Jansen (447) and Craig Kimbrel (440). Other than Aroldis Chapman who has 335 career Saves, no other current pitcher has more than 225.