Chino Smith
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Charles E. "Chino" Smith (September 24, 1901 – January 15, 1932) was an American
outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
in
Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams 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 relativel ...
who was one of the Negro leagues' most skillful hitters of the mid-1920s and early 1930s.
Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...
called him one of the two most dangerous hitters in Negro league history, the other being
Jud Wilson Ernest Judson Wilson (February 28, 1894 – June 24, 1963), nicknamed "Boojum", was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. He played for the Baltimore Black Sox, the Homestead Grays, and the Philadelphia ...
. He was known for his good eye at the plate and hit line drives to all fields.


Biography

Smith was born in Greenwood, South Carolina, and played for the semipro Philadelphia Giants in 1924. He worked at New York City's Penn Station and played in 1925 for their baseball team, the Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York, playing for them as a
second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...
alongside
shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...
Dick Seay. Smith broke into the professional Brooklyn Royal Giants later that year. He recorded
batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
s of .341 in 1925 and .439 in 1927. In 1929, he joined the New York Lincoln Giants of the new
American Negro League The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro league baseball, Negro leagues established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the United States in 1929. ...
, and batted .464, collecting 118 hits in only 67 games, with 23
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
s and 24 doubles, all of which paced the league. The league was not a stable one, however, and it folded the next year, with the Lincoln Giants continuing on as an independent team. They battled the
Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cum ...
for the eastern title, only to lose out at the end of the season. During this season he hit opposing pitchers at a .468 clip. In 1930, Smith played in the first game involving a black team at
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...
; he hit a triple and two home runs. The incomplete records of the time show that Smith had a .423 career batting average in Negro league competition. He hit .335 in Cuban winter ball and .405 (or .423 depending upon sources) against white major leaguers. Smith's nickname of "Chino" is thought to have originated from his Asian-like appearance. Author James A. Riley wrote, "A line drive hitter whose line shots to all parts of the ballpark looked like frozen ropes, he had a good eye at the plate and rarely struck out. Going with the pitch to all fields, he hit everything thrown to him and respected no pitcher. Sometimes he would spit at a pitcher's best offerings as it came across the plate, taking two strikes before lining a base hit through the middle. Supremely confident at the plate, the little slugger had no weakness."Riley, James A. (1994). ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of The Negro Baseball Leagues''. Carrol & Graf Publishers Inc., New York. Fellow Negro leaguer Cool Papa Bell said, "He'd go out there, say 'I guess I'll get me three hits,' and go out there and hit that ball. I don't care who pitched, he could do everything."


Illness and death

At the age of 30, Smith became ill with yellow fever while playing in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
and died. On what would have been his 51st birthday, Smith got the second most votes as best right fielder in the 1952 ''
Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...
'' player-voted poll of the Negro leagues' best players ever."1952 Pittsburgh Courier Poll of Greatest Black Players"
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See also

* List of baseball players who died during their careers


References


Sources

* Shatzkin, Mike, Editor, "The Ballplayers" (1990), William Morrow and Company, New York,


External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Chino 1901 births 1932 deaths Baltimore Black Sox players Baseball players from Greenwood County, South Carolina Brooklyn Royal Giants players New York Lincoln Giants players Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York players Sportspeople from Greenwood, South Carolina Deaths from yellow fever