Hilton Smith
Encyclopedia
Hilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher
in Negro league baseball
. In 2001 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
.
, Smith began his professional career in black baseball's equivalent of the minor leagues with the Austin Black Senators
in Austin, Texas
. His big league debut was with the Monroe Monarchs
of Monroe, Louisiana
in 1932.
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.
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 he 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.
After retiring from baseball, Hilton 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 at age 76 in Kansas City, Missouri
. It was not until 2001 that he became a member of the Hall.
and supervised by Larry Lester and Dick Clark, in which a research team collected statistics from thousands of boxscores of league-sanctioned games. The first results from this study were the statistics for Negro league Hall of Famers elected prior to 2006, which were published in Shades of Glory by Lawrence D. Hogan. These statistics include the official Negro league statistics for Hilton Smith:
Source:
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
in Negro league baseball
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
. In 2001 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
.
Biography
Born in Sour Lake, TexasSour Lake, Texas
Sour Lake is a city in Hardin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,813 at the 2010 census. It was originally named Sour Lake Springs, after the mineral-laden spring water that flowed into the nearby lake. The city is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical...
, Smith began his professional career in black baseball's equivalent of the minor leagues with the Austin Black Senators
Austin Black Senators
The Austin Black Senators were a professional baseball team based in Austin, Texas which played in the Negro Leagues. The Black Senators adopted the name of their white, Texas League counterparts sometime in the early 1910s. The team started as an independent, then joined the Texas Negro League...
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. His big league debut was with the Monroe Monarchs
Monroe Monarchs
The Monroe Monarchs were a professional baseball team based in Monroe, Louisiana, which played in the Negro Leagues from the late 1920s to 1935. The team was created by Fred Stovall, a Texan oil drilling millionaire, who later financed the Negro Southern League. In the 1930s, a time of acute...
of Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
in 1932.
From 1935 to 1936, Smith pitched for the Bismarck
Bismarck Churchills
The Bismarck Churchills were an integrated semi-professional baseball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota in the 1930s. Led by Satchel Paige, Moose Johnson, and Double Duty Radcliffe, the club won the 1935 national semi-pro baseball tournament in Wichita, Kansas.The Churchills played...
semi-professional team organized by Neil Churchill
Neil Churchill
Neil O. Churchill was a car dealer in Bismarck, North Dakota who funded an integrated baseball team in the mid-thirties more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball....
. In 1935 his teammates included Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe
Ted Radcliffe
Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe was at his death thought to be the oldest living professional baseball player , one of only a handful of major league players who lived past their 100th birthdays, and a former star in the...
, Quincy Trouppe
Quincy Trouppe
Quincy Thomas Trouppe was an American professional baseball player and an amateur boxing champion. He was a catcher in the Negro Leagues from 1930 to 1949. He was a native of Dublin, Georgia....
, Barney Morris
Barney Morris
Barney Morris was a baseball player in the Negro Leagues. A skillful pitcher, he played for the Monroe Monarchs, the Bismarck Churchills, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the New York Cubans.-References:*...
, and Chet Brewer
Chet Brewer
Chester Arthur "Chet" Brewer was an American right-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro Leagues. Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs, and from 1957 to 1974 he scouted for the Pittsburgh Pirates....
. 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.
In late 1936 Smith signed with the Kansas City Monarchs
Kansas City Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...
. From 1937 until his retirement in 1948 Smith was a star pitcher on the Monarchs. He possessed an outstanding curveball
Curveball
The curveball is a type of pitch in baseball thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball causing it to dive in a downward path as it approaches the plate. Its close relatives are the slider and the slurve. The "curve" of the ball varies from pitcher to...
, but he was overshadowed by his more flamboyant teammate Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
. 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.
After retiring from baseball, Hilton Smith worked as a schoolteacher and later as a steel plant foreman. He also scouted for the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
. 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 at age 76 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. It was not until 2001 that he became a member of the Hall.
Negro leagues
The first official statistics for the Negro leagues were compiled as part of a statistical study sponsored by the National Baseball Hall of FameNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
and supervised by Larry Lester and Dick Clark, in which a research team collected statistics from thousands of boxscores of league-sanctioned games. The first results from this study were the statistics for Negro league Hall of Famers elected prior to 2006, which were published in Shades of Glory by Lawrence D. Hogan. These statistics include the official Negro league statistics for Hilton Smith:
| Year | Team | League | W Win (baseball) In professional baseball, there are two types of decisions: a win and a loss . In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the pitchers of record. Only... |
L | Pct Winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. It is defined as wins divided by wins plus losses . Ties count as a ½ loss and a ½ win... |
G Games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although exceptions are made if the pitcher announced in the starting lineup is injured before facing a batter, perhaps while... |
CG Complete game In baseball, a complete game is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher.As demonstrated by the charts below, in the early 20th century, it was common for most good Major League Baseball pitchers to pitch a complete game almost every start. Pitchers were... |
IP Innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inning pitched. One out counts as one-third of an inning, and two... |
H Hit (baseball) In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice.... |
BB Base on balls A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08... |
SO Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters.... |
RA Run average In baseball statistics, run average refers to measures of the rate at which runs are allowed or scored. For pitchers, the run average is the number of runs—earned or unearned—allowed per nine innings... |
ERA Earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine... |
| 1932 | Monroe Monroe Monarchs The Monroe Monarchs were a professional baseball team based in Monroe, Louisiana, which played in the Negro Leagues from the late 1920s to 1935. The team was created by Fred Stovall, a Texan oil drilling millionaire, who later financed the Negro Southern League. In the 1930s, a time of acute... |
NSL Negro Southern League The Negro Southern League was a Negro baseball league organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues in Southern United States were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north due to Jim Crow laws. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in .For most of its... |
0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 14.3 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 5.02 | 5.02 |
| 1937 | Kansas City Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time... |
NAL Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues which were created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and continued to exist until 1960... |
11 | 3 | .786 | 19 | 6 | 109.0 | 84 | 15 | 74 | 2.56 | 1.90 |
| 1938 | Kansas City | NAL | 8 | 3 | .727 | 17 | 5 | 87.7 | 71 | 7 | 55 | 2.46 | 1.95 |
| 1939 | Kansas City | NAL | 7 | 4 | .636 | 19 | 7 | 106.0 | 79 | 14 | 79 | 3.14 | 1.87 |
| 1940 | Kansas City | NAL | 4 | 4 | .500 | 12 | 4 | 53.0 | 51 | 9 | 43 | 5.26 | 2.89 |
| 1941 | Kansas City | NAL | 11 | 1 | .917 | 15 | 5 | 78.3 | 49 | 5 | 38 | 2.30 | 0.92 |
| 1942 | Kansas City | NAL | 7 | 3 | .700 | 12 | 4 | 76.3 | 74 | 18 | 45 | 4.72 | 2.71 |
| 1943 | Kansas City | NAL | 3 | 1 | .750 | 8 | 3 | 46.0 | 34 | 1 | 15 | 2.74 | 2.15 |
| 1944 | Kansas City | NAL | 3 | 3 | .500 | 8 | 2 | 37.3 | 32 | 0 | 12 | 4.34 | 0.24 |
| 1945 | Kansas City | NAL | 2 | 4 | .333 | 7 | 6 | 50.7 | 51 | 5 | 25 | 4.44 | 0.89 |
| 1946 | Kansas City | NAL | 8 | 2 | .800 | 15 | 6 | 84.3 | 64 | 13 | 53 | 2.24 | 0.43 |
| 1947 | Kansas City | NAL | 5 | 2 | .714 | 7 | 5 | 49.0 | 57 | 5 | 17 | 4.78 | 2.02 |
| 1948 | Kansas City | NAL | 2 | 1 | .667 | 5 | 0 | 20.3 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 3.98 | 0.00 |
| Total | 13 seasons | 71 | 31 | .696 | 146 | 53 | 812.3 | 674 | 96 | 470 | 3.37 | 1.68 | |
Source: