Hilton Smith

Hilton Smith
Hilton Smith
	Pitcher
	Born: February 27, 1907; Giddings, Texas, U.S.
	Died: November 18, 1983 (aged 76); Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
Negro leagues debut
	1932, Monroe Monarchs
Last Negro leagues appearance
	1948, Kansas City Monarchs
Negro leagues statistics
Win–loss record	70–38
Earned run average	2.92
Strikeouts	594
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	Negro leagues Monroe Monarchs (1932–1935); Kansas City Monarchs (1936–1948); Other Bismarck Churchills (1935);
Career highlights and awards
	6× All-Star (1937–1942); Triple Crown (1938); Negro World Series champion (1942);
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	2001
Election method	Veterans Committee

Hilton Lee Smith (February 27, 1907^[b] – November 18, 1983) was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs and Bismarck Churchills between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Early life

Born in Giddings, Texas, Smith began his career in black baseball's equivalent of the minor leagues with the Austin Black Senators in Austin, Texas. Smith made the dean's list as a student at Prairie View A&M College in 1928 and 1929. He was an outfielder in his first college season and a pitcher in his second year.^[2]

His big league debut was with the Monroe Monarchs of Monroe, Louisiana in 1932. In 1934, Smith wed Louise Humphrey. They had two children.^[3]

Semi-pro career

From 1935 to 1936, Smith pitched for the Bismarck semi-professional team organized by Neil Churchill. In 1935, his teammates included Satchel Paige, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, Quincy Trouppe, Barney Morris, and Chet Brewer. In August, the team won the national semipro championship in Wichita, Kansas. In 1936, Paige, Radcliffe, and Brewer departed and Smith became the ace of the Bismarck team. They returned to the national championship, where Smith won four games, but Bismarck failed to repeat as champions.^[4]

Negro league career

In late 1936, Smith signed with the Kansas City Monarchs. From 1937 until his retirement in 1948, Smith was a star pitcher on the Monarchs. He possessed an outstanding curveball, but was overshadowed by his more flamboyant teammate Satchel Paige. Often Paige would pitch the first three innings of a game, leaving Smith to pitch the remaining six. Also, unlike Paige, Smith was a very good hitter. Smith led the Negro American League in wins three times (1937–38, 1941). He also led the NAL with strikoutes four times (1937–39, 1941). He was tied with Ray Brown as the second player in Negro league history to win the pitching Triple Crown, doing so in 1938 with 9 wins, 88 strikeouts, and a 1.92 ERA.

Post-playing career and death

After retiring from baseball, Smith worked as a schoolteacher and later as a steel plant foreman. He also scouted for the Chicago Cubs. Smith had a quiet, reserved temperament, but in his later years he stood up for Negro leaguers in their struggle to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1983 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was not until 2001 that he was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

^ On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".^[1] Smith's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues from 1932 and from 1937 until the end of his career.
^ During his lifetime, Smith claimed that his birth-date was 1912, which is the date shown in several references such as Riley, p. 723. Nearly 20 years after his death, however, historian Larry Lester discovered information and confirmed that his actual birth-date was February 27, 1907; see Thornley, p. 136.

References

^ "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'". MLB.com. December 16, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
^ "Hilton Lee Smith inducted into the Prairie View A&M Sports Hall of Fame". Prairie View A&M University. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
^ Porter, David, ed. (2000). Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Q-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 1434–1435. ISBN 0313311765. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
^ McNary, Kyle P. (2001). "North Dakota Integrated Baseball History". Pitch Black Baseball. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2009.

Citations

Clark, Dick; Lester, Larry (1994), The Negro Leagues Book, Cleveland, Ohio: Society for American Baseball Research
Hogan, Lawrence D. (2006), Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball, Washington, DC: National Geographic, ISBN 0-7922-5306-X
Riley, James A. (1994), The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0959-6
Thornley, Stew (2006), Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History, St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, ISBN 0-87351-551-X

External links

Hilton Smith at the Baseball Hall of Fame
Career statistics from MLB, or Baseball Reference and Baseball-Reference Black Baseball and Mexican League stats and Seamheads
Hilton Smith at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
Hilton Smith at Find a Grave

[2] On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".^[1] Smith's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues from 1932 and from 1937 until the end of his career.

[3] During his lifetime, Smith claimed that his birth-date was 1912, which is the date shown in several references such as Riley, p. 723. Nearly 20 years after his death, however, historian Larry Lester discovered information and confirmed that his actual birth-date was February 27, 1907; see Thornley, p. 136.

[1] "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'". MLB.com. December 16, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2024.

[PVAMU-4] "Hilton Lee Smith inducted into the Prairie View A&M Sports Hall of Fame". Prairie View A&M University. Retrieved January 3, 2015.

[Porter-5] Porter, David, ed. (2000). Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Q-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 1434–1435. ISBN 0313311765. Retrieved January 3, 2015.

[6] McNary, Kyle P. (2001). "North Dakota Integrated Baseball History". Pitch Black Baseball. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2009.

[a]

[b]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[1]

v t e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2001
BBWAA Vote	Kirby Puckett (82.1%) Dave Winfield (84.5%)
Veterans Committee	Bill Mazeroski Hilton Smith
J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Ross Newhan
Ford C. Frick Award	Felo Ramírez

v t e Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Halladay Hoffman Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Kaat Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard P. Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Morris Mussina Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rivera Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith L. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young
Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Mauer Piazza Rodríguez Santop Schalk T. Simmons
First basemen	Anson Bagwell Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg Helton Hodges G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey McGriff Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas Thome
Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst
Third basemen	Baker Beltré Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Jones Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Rolen Santo Schmidt Traynor D. White J. Wilson
Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Jeter Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Jr. Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Trammell Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount
Left fielders	Brock Burkett Clarke Delahanty Goslin Hafey Henderson Irvin Kelley Kiner Manush Medwick Miñoso Musial O'Rourke Raines J. Rice A. Simmons Stargell Wheat B. Williams T. Williams Yastrzemski
Center fielders	Ashburn Averill Bell W. Brown Carey Charleston Cobb Combs DiMaggio Doby Duffy Griffey Jr. Hamilton Hill Mantle Mays Puckett Roush Snider Speaker Stearnes Torriente L. Waner H. Wilson
Right fielders	Aaron Clemente Crawford Cuyler Dawson Flick Guerrero Gwynn Heilmann Hooper R. Jackson Kaline Keeler K. Kelly Klein T. McCarthy Oliva Ott S. Rice F. Robinson Ruth Slaughter Thompson Walker P. Waner Winfield Youngs
Designated hitters	Baines E. Martínez Ortiz
Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher R. Foster Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda Leyland López Mack J. McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams
Executives and pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Cummings Dreyfuss Fowler Frick Giles Gillick Grant Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley Miller O'Malley O'Neil Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Schuerholz Selig Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey
Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

Authority control databases
International	VIAF WorldCat
National	United States