David Stanley Smith (January 21, 1955 – December 17, 2008) was an American Major League Baseball relief pitcher, primarily for the Houston Astros, for whom he pitched from 1980 to 1990.

[1] Smith appeared in 57 games that year while pitching 102.2 innings (a career high), collecting ten saves while having a 7–5 record with a 1.93 ERA.

In Game 2, he pitched to seven batters in the seventh and eighth innings, allowing one run to score while the Astros won 7–4.

In the top of the eighth inning, he was sent to replace Vern Ruhle, who had seen his shutout end on a Pete Rose single.

The Astros returned to the postseason that year and met the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 National League Division Series.

In 1986, Smith pitched 56 innings with 54 appearances in games, which resulted in 33 saves with a 2.73 ERA and a 4–7 record while striking out 46 batters with 22 walks.

He gave up a leadoff bunt single by Wally Backman, who the Astros felt stepped way out of the basepaths.

One out later, Lenny Dykstra, hit a deep shot to right field on a forkball that went for a home run to win the game for the Mets.

He made the All-Star team that season, pitching with a 2.39 ERA in 49 games and 60.1 innings while collecting 23 saves with fifty strikeouts and twenty walks to go with a 6–6 record.

Smith left the Astros following the 1990 season, signing with the Chicago Cubs ten days after being granted free agency.

[12] After his playing career ended, he worked under the minor league system for the San Diego Padres from 1994 to 1998 before being promoted to the major league staff in 1999, where he coached until 2001; in that year, he undertook an alcohol rehabilitation program and missed a month of the season before resigning in June.