negroleagueshistory.com
Charles “Chino” Smith was only 5’6″ tall, but was one of the great power hitters of his day.
“Chino Smith was one of the two best hitters in the Negro Leagues.”
Satchel Paige
Smith’s career only spanned from 1925-1931. Primarily an outfielder, he also played some second base. He played with the Philadelphia Giants, Red Caps of New York, Brooklyn Royal Giants, and New York Lincoln Giants. He had a great eye and hit where the ball was pitched, spraying line drives all over the park.
“(Oscar) Charleston was a good hitter, but (Chino) Smith was better because he could hit all kinds of pitching. He had good timing, good eyes. If you pitched outside to Smitty, he’d hit a line drive over third base. If you pitched inside, he’d hit it over the fence.”
Negro League pitcher Bill Holland
In 1927, he hit .439 for the Brooklyn Royal Giants. In 1929, for the New York Lincoln Giants, he batted .464 and hit 23 home runs. In his last full season he hit .468, and he was the first black ballplayer to homer in Yankee Stadium. (He actually homered twice that day.) His career average was .423.
Chino Smith was only 30 years old when he became ill with yellow fever while playing in Cuba and died. Who knows what he may have accomplished if not taken from us at such a young age.
Smith created a problem for Strat-O-Matic when putting together their Negro Leagues set. He did play in a hitter-friendly ballpark, and did not have many seasons to build his card from. They decided to use his Cuban statistics to create his card, based on performances in ballparks that were more pitcher-friendly against top notch talent.