Smiley graduated from Perkiomen Valley High School in 1983, where he played sports as a baseball pitcher, basketball point guard, and football quarterback.[1]
Career
Despite never playing minor league baseball higher than Class A, Smiley entered spring training before the 1987 season with a relief pitcher role already in place, with manager Jim Leyland saying he would have to "pitch his way off the club".[2] In Smiley's first full season, he led the Pirates in appearances with 63 games. Smiley was converted to a starting pitcher in 1988, lowering his earned run average by a full 2.5 runs per game, posting a 3.25 ERA and 13 wins against 11 losses.
On April 26, 1990, Smiley threw a complete game against the San Francisco Giants in 87 pitches, of which 73 were strikes, which remains a major league record for strike percentage in a single game. He allowed three hits and a single run, and struck out six batters, facing only three above the minimum.[3]
Smiley was a two time All-Star: as a Pirate in 1991, a season in which Smiley led the National League with twenty wins and finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting; and in 1995 with the Reds, a season in which he had twelve wins and five losses. In August 1995, Smiley surrendered a home run to Braves pitcher Tom Glavine — the only homer Glavine hit in his major league career.
