John Ford Smith (January 9, 1919 – February 26, 1983) was an American

Negro league 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 ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. A native of

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, Smith attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. He broke into the Negro leagues in 1939 with the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" F ...

, and played with the Indianapolis Crawfords in 1940 and the

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 193 ...

in 1941. He served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and after his service returned to play with Kansas City from 1946 to 1948. He started Game 2 and Game 7 of the

1946 Negro World Series In the 1946 Negro World Series, the Newark Eagles, champions of the Negro National League, beat the Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the Negro American League, four games to three. Summary Matchups Game 1 Game 1 matched Hilton Smith fo ...

for the Monarchs, and was selected to play in the

East–West All-Star Game The East–West All-Star Game was an annual all-star game for Negro league baseball players. The game was the brainchild of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1933 in baseball, 1933 he decided to emulate the Major League Baseball ...

in 1947. Smith and

Baseball Hall of Famer The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

Monte Irvin Monford Merrill "Monte" Irvin (February 25, 1919 – January 11, 2016) was an American left fielder and right fielder in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who played with the Newark Eagles (1938–1942, 1946–1948), New York Gi ...

signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

on the same day in 1949, and Smith spent the next several years playing in the minor leagues. In 1949 and 1950, he played for the

Jersey City Giants {{Infobox Minor League Baseball , name = Jersey City Giants , founded = 1937 , city = Jersey City, New Jersey , misc = , logo = , uniformlogo = , class level = , past ...

, in 1951 for the

Drummondville Cubs The Drummondville professional baseball team was a member of the now extinct Quebec Provincial League and operated in Drummondville, in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec. The team went through many incarnations over the years. They debuted as ...

, 1952 and 1953 for the

Phoenix Senators The Phoenix Senators were a minor league baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, that played on-and-off from 1915 to 1957. They played in the Rio Grande Association in 1915, the Arizona State League from 1928 to 1930, the Arizona–Texas ...

, and 1954 for the El Paso Texans. After his baseball career, he returned to Phoenix, where he worked for the

Phoenix Union High School District The Phoenix Union High School District is a High school (North America), high school-only school district in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is one of five high school-only districts in the Phoenix area. Overview The school district serv ...

, and served as executive director of the Arizona Civil Rights Commission. He died in Phoenix in 1983 at age 64.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
1919 births 1983 deaths Chicago American Giants players Kansas City Monarchs players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Phoenix, Arizona 20th-century African-American sportsmen {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-1910s-stub