John Smoltz

John Andrew Smoltz born May 15 1967 nicknamed Smoltzie and Marmaduke is an American former pitcher inMajor League Baseball who played from 1988 to 2009 all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves An eighttime AllStar Smoltz with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine  was one of a celebrated trio of starting pitchers who propelled Atlanta to perennial pennant contention in the 1990s highlighted by a championship in the 1995 World Series He won the National League NL Cy Young Award in 1996 after posting a record of 248 equaling the most victories by an NL pitcher since 1972 Though predominantly known as a starter Smoltz was converted to a reliever in 2001 following his recovery fromTommy John surgery and spent four years as the teams closer before returning to a starting role In 2002 he set the NL record with 55 saves and became only the second pitcher in history joining Dennis Eckersley to record both a 20win season and a 50save season He is the only pitcher in major league history to record both 200 wins and 150 saves Smoltz was one of the most prominent pitchers in playoff history posting a record of 154 with a 267 earned run averageERA in 41 career postseason games and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1992 NL Championship SeriesAndy Pettitte later broke his record for career postseason wins Smoltz led the NL in wins winning percentage strikeoutsand innings pitched twice each and his NL total of 3051 strikeouts ranked fifth in league history when he retired He also holds the Braves franchise record for career strikeouts 3011 and the record for the most career games pitched for the Braves 708 since the clubs move to Atlanta in 1966 from 2004 to 2014 he held the franchise record for career saves Smoltz left the Braves after 2008 and split his final season with the Boston Red Sox and St Louis Cardinals Since retiring as a player he has served as a color commentator and analyst on television He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in2015 his first year of eligibility