When former closer Lee Smith retired from baseball in 1997, he was the all-time saves leader with 478. Only Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera finished with more career saves than the big righty from Louisiana. Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2nd round of the 1975 MLB Amateur Draft, Smith made his debut with the “Northsiders” on September 1, 1980. His 18-year career saw him pitch for the Cubs, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, California Angels, Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos.

The Hall of Fame closer was a longtime coach in the San Francisco Giants farm system, where he had served as a roving pitching instructor and eventually linked up with the Double-A Shreveport Captains, which was close to his hometown of Jamestown, Louisiana. For the first time since moving to San Francisco, the Giants were World Champions in 2010, and the team honored Smith by presenting him with his own championship ring. Designed and produced by Tiffany & Co., the 2010 San Francisco Giants World Series Champions Ring was designed to be with homage to the rings from earlier eras. The original inspiration was the Giants 1933 World Series ring but with a modern style. This particular ring was presented to Lee Smith.

This Tiffany & Co. championship ring is primarily made from sterling silver, also with some 14K yellow gold. The ring top holds the "SF" logo set with round diamonds encircled by a bezel of yellow gold, flanked by two round diamonds and the term "WORLD CHAMPIONS". The perimeter contains more small round diamonds. One shank of the size 16, 69.95-gram ring has the year "2010" flanking a yellow gold tower of the Golden Gate Bridge -- the iconic symbol of San Francisco. The other shank has the recipient's name "SMITH" in a ribbon over the World Series trophy. Within the top of the trophy is one mandarin orange spessartite garnet representing the San Francisco championship and at the base of the trophy are five diamonds representing the five New York championships. Within the band is engraved the results of their three 2010 post season series wins with "SFG 3 - ATL 1 SFG 4 - PHI 2 SFG 4 - TEX 1". Also stamped inside the band is “TIFFANY & CO. 585” indicating that it is made of 14K gold. This is tremendous ring of the first ever Giants baseball championship in San Francisco and it also comes with a 5 x 5 x 2 ½-inch wood presentation box that has a “2010 WORLD CHAMPIONS” logo and “NOVEMBER 1, 2010” printed in gold on the top. The box is also housed in a teal-colored Tiffany & Co. box. This comes with a LOA from Lee Smith.

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