What years did Dave Smith play?

Dave Smith played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1992.

Was Dave Smith a pitcher?

Yes. Dave Smith pitched in the major leagues, recording 53 wins and 548 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Dave Smith hit?

Dave Smith hit 0 career home runs with 3 hits.

What was Dave Smith's career batting average?

Dave Smith batted .068 over his career, with 3 hits in 44 at bats.

How many RBI did Dave Smith have?

Dave Smith drove in 1 runs in his career.

What was Dave Smith's career ERA?

Dave Smith finished with a 2.67 career ERA, going 53-53 with 548 strikeouts.

Dave Smith

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1980-1992)

Dave Smith was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1992 for the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs, a span of 13 seasons. Across 609 career appearances, he went 53-53 with a 2.67 ERA, 548 strikeouts, and 216 saves. Dave Smith was a 2-time All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 16706.6.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 12, 2026

W–L 53–53

ERA 2.67

WHIP 1.21

SO 548

Pitcher PIV 16706.6

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 195 lb
Born: 1/21/1955 in Richmond, CA, USA
Died: 12/17/2008 in San Diego, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1980-04-11
Last Game: 1992-06-08
Awards: 2× All-Star

Full name: David Stanley Smith

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Career Pitching Statistics

Dave Smith — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
53	53	609	1	0	0	216	809.1	700	240	34	283	548	2.67	16706.6

Career ERA 2.67 vs. league average 3.86 across their career seasons — 30.9% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dave Smith (b. 1955) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1980	HOU	NL	7	5	57	0	10	102.2	90	22	32	85	1.93	3.84 (+50%)	4106.2
1981	HOU	NL	5	3	42	0	8	75.0	54	23	23	52	2.76	3.58 (+23%)	1948.2
1982	HOU	NL	5	4	49	1	11	63.1	69	27	31	28	3.84	3.86 (+1%)	-409.9
1983	HOU	NL	3	1	42	0	6	72.2	72	25	36	41	3.10	3.87 (+20%)	740.7
1984	HOU	NL	5	4	53	0	5	77.1	60	19	20	45	2.21	3.81 (+42%)	1083.0
1985	HOU	NL	9	5	64	0	27	79.1	69	20	17	40	2.27	3.89 (+42%)	2107.0
1986	HOU	NL	4	7	54	0	33	56.0	39	17	22	46	2.73	3.97 (+31%)	639.4
1987	HOU	NL	2	3	50	0	24	60.0	39	11	21	73	1.65	4.29 (+62%)	4184.8
1988	HOU	NL	4	5	51	0	27	57.1	60	17	19	38	2.67	3.73 (+29%)	1474.9
1989	HOU	NL	3	4	52	0	25	58.0	49	17	19	31	2.64	3.71 (+29%)	1112.0
1990	HOU	NL	6	6	49	0	23	60.1	45	16	20	50	2.39	3.86 (+38%)	1304.2
1991	CHN	NL	0	6	35	0	17	33.0	39	22	19	16	6.00	3.91 (-53%)	-1779.2
1992	CHN	NL	0	0	11	0	0	14.1	15	4	4	3	2.51	3.75 (+33%)	195.4
Career · 13 seasons			53	53	609	1	216	809.1	700	240	283	548	2.67	—	16,707

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Dave Smith — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
609	44	2	3	0	0	0	1	0	4	21	.068	.146	.068	.214	0

Career AVG .068 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — 73.6% below league average.

Career OBP .146 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 54.9% below league average.

Career SLG .068 vs. league average .387 across their career seasons — 82.4% below league average.

Career OPS .214 vs. league average .710 across their career seasons — 69.9% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dave Smith (b. 1955) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1980	HOU	NL	57	12	0	0	0	0	4	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	HOU	NL	42	8	0	2	0	0	4	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	HOU	NL	49	2	0	0	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	HOU	NL	42	5	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	HOU	NL	53	4	1	0	0	1	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	HOU	NL	64	3	1	0	1	1	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	HOU	NL	54	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	HOU	NL	50	2	0	1	0	1	1	.500	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	HOU	NL	51	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	HOU	NL	52	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1990	HOU	NL	49	2	0	0	0	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1991	CHN	NL	35	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1992	CHN	NL	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 13 seasons			609	44	2	3	1	4	21	.068	—	—	—	—	0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Dave Smith — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Dave Smith — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AVG
1986	NLCS	HOU	2	.000
1981	NWDIV	HOU	2	.000
1980	NLCS	HOU	3	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Dave Smith — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	1	7	0	0	6.2	8	4	5	10	5.40

Playoff Pitching by Year

Dave Smith — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1986	NLCS	HOU	0	1	2	2.0	2	2	3	2	9.00
1981	NWDIV	HOU	0	0	2	2.1	2	1	0	4	3.86
1980	NLCS	HOU	1	0	3	2.1	4	1	2	4	3.86

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1218 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Dave Smith — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	320	22	1	1	0	1	.045
Away	289	22	1	2	0	0	.091

Pitching — Home / Away

Dave Smith — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	320	422.1	360	126	130	291	2.69
Away	289	387.0	340	114	153	257	2.65

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Dave Smith — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1992-06-08	CHC	STL	—	1.2	4	2	2	0	1
1992-06-03	CHC	SDP	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1
1992-05-30	CHC	LAD	—	2.0	0	0	0	0	0
1992-05-10	CHC	CIN	—	2.0	1	0	0	0	1
1992-05-08	CHC	CIN	—	0.2	2	1	1	0	0
1992-04-29	CHC	ATL	—	1.2	0	0	0	0	0
1992-04-23	CHC	PHI	—	0.2	3	0	0	0	0
1992-04-19	CHC	STL	—	2.0	1	0	0	2	0
1992-04-15	CHC	PIT	—	1.0	2	0	0	0	0
1992-04-10	CHC	STL	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Dave Smith — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	609	1	42	87	11	6

Season-by-Season Fielding

Dave Smith — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1980	HOU	P	57	0	3	11	1	0
1981	HOU	P	42	0	3	11	1	0
1982	HOU	P	49	1	3	7	2	2
1983	HOU	P	42	0	3	4	2	0
1984	HOU	P	53	0	5	9	1	1
1985	HOU	P	64	0	4	7	3	1
1986	HOU	P	54	0	7	6	0	0
1987	HOU	P	50	0	4	4	0	0
1988	HOU	P	51	0	3	8	0	0
1989	HOU	P	52	0	6	10	0	1
1990	HOU	P	49	0	1	3	1	1
1991	CHN	P	35	0	0	5	0	0
1992	CHN	P	11	0	0	2	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Dave Smith (b. 1955) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	609

Salary History

Dave Smith — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1993	CHN	NL	$250,000
1992	CHN	NL	$2,500,000
1991	CHN	NL	$1,900,000
1990	HOU	NL	$1,100,000
1989	HOU	NL	$1,100,000
1988	HOU	NL	$1,100,000
1987	HOU	NL	$700,000
1986	HOU	NL	$650,000
1985	HOU	NL	$500,000
Total Career Earnings			$9,800,000

College History

Dave Smith — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
San Diego State University	San Diego	CA	1974, 1975, 1976

Award Voting History

Dave Smith — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1986	Most Valuable Player	NL	17th	5.0	336	0
1980	Rookie of the Year	NL	5th	13.0	120	2

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Dave Smith (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Dave Smith

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Dave Smith: the record in brief

April 11, 1980 and June 8, 1992 bracket Dave Smith's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. Smith played for the Houston Astros (1980 to 1990) and the Chicago Cubs (1991 through 1992). Smith played primarily as a pitcher and both batted and threw right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on January 21, 1955, in Richmond, CA, USA and a listed size of 6 feet, 1 inch and 195 pounds. Smith's death is recorded on December 17, 2008, in San Diego, CA, USA. Dave Smith was the playing name; the full given name is David Stanley.

Smith's career pitching line is 53 wins, 53 losses and a 2.67 ERA over 609 appearances. The same table counts 548 strikeouts and 216 saves. Against a 3.86 league ERA for the same years, Smith was 30.9% better. Smith won 9 games in 1985, the most of any season listed. Smith struck out 85 batters in 1980, a career high.

Frequently Asked Questions about Dave Smith

What years did Dave Smith play?: Dave Smith played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1992.
Was Dave Smith a pitcher?: Yes. Dave Smith pitched in the major leagues, recording 53 wins and 548 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Dave Smith hit?: Dave Smith hit 0 career home runs with 3 hits.
What was Dave Smith's career batting average?: Dave Smith batted .068 over his career, with 3 hits in 44 at bats.
How many RBI did Dave Smith have?: Dave Smith drove in 1 runs in his career.
What was Dave Smith's career ERA?: Dave Smith finished with a 2.67 career ERA, going 53-53 with 548 strikeouts.