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 second time in three seasons, the San Francisco Giants were World Champions in 2012, and the team honored Smith by presenting him with his own championship ring.

Designed and produced by Tiffany & Co., the 2012 San Francisco Giants World Series Champions Ring pays tribute to the Giants seven World Championships, and the unprecedented six elimination game victories before their sweep of the Tigers in the World Series. The face of this championship ring features the San Francisco "SF" logo in 52 round melee diamonds. Above and below is a bezel reading "WORLD CHAMPIONS." Seven round diamonds, on each side, represent the organization's seven world championships. Total carat weight is approximately 2.57 carats. One shank of the size 16 ring has the name “SMITH” with the year "2012” flanking a city cable car – one of the iconic symbols of San Francisco. The other shank has the results of their three 2012 post season series wins with "SFG 4 – DET 0 SFG 4 – STL 2 SFG 3 – CIN 2." During the two NL series, the Giants faced SIX elimination games, obviously winning them all. Stamped inside the band is “TIFFANY & CO. AU 585” indicating the ring is 58.5% pure, or 14K. The ring weighs approximately 89.75 grams. This is tremendous ring of the second ever Giants baseball championship in San Francisco, a sweep of the Detroit Tigers, and the reminder of the old baseball adage of "good pitching will always beat good hitting". The ring comes with the original 5 x 5 x 2 ½-inch wood presentation box with the “2012 WORLD CHAMPIONS” logo and “OCTOBER 28, 2012” logo painted in gold on the top. This comes with a LOA from Lee Smith.

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