WEST PEORIA — Jimmy’s Bar added to its lineup of celebrity visitors over the weekend.
Lee Smith, a retired Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals reliever, dropped in at the iconic spot on Farmington Road in West Peoria on Friday night, then returned on Saturday for lunch.
The baseball Hall of Fame closer was in town to pick up a golf cart he bought from a Peoria-area friend. The cart was loaded on board Smith’s pickup truck.
“He was with his wife and son, they came in on Friday for a couple hours then went to dinner at Alexander’s,” Jimmy’s owner Jimmy Spears said. “Then they came back for lunch on Saturday.
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Smith threw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs home opener last Thursday and then came down through Peoria to get the golf cart, Spears said.
“He said he was taking it to his home in Louisiana,” Spears said. “Super nice guy, talked with anyone who approached him, took pictures, signed autographs.”
Jimmy’s Bar is no stranger to big names. Olympic swimmer Katie McLaughlin brought her silver medal to the bar last August. The place has been visited in the past by Rudy Giuliani and JB Pritzker, too.
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Smith, 64, was inducted into Cooperstown in 2019. He had 478 saves in 18 seasons, primarily with the Cubs. He appeared in seven All-Star games and finished in the top five in Cy Young Award voting three times.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Why Cubs Hall of Fame pitcher stopped at Jimmy’s Bar in West Peoria