Chino Smith
 

It seems that if not for the color barrier and dying young, Smith would be not just a Hall of Famer but part of the inner circle. Yet I never heard of him before last week. What is the general consensus of his ability? Up there with Ruth, Charleston & Cobb? Are there any cards of him? Thanks.

He's listed as Charlie Smith on baseball-reference.com.


Steve

Well, according to baseball-reference.com, his career batting average was ~.400, but that's only counting four seasons (1925-1927 & 1929). Evidently, he played a maximum of seven years; 1925-1931. In 1932, he contracted yellow fever while playing in Cuba, and died at the age of 30.

If he hadn't died when he did, and been able to play the requisite 10 years, who knows.....

Steve.

Thanks, that's how I found out about him. Other than that I only know what I read on SABR and Wiki.

608 at bats is an awfully small sample size, especially when his longest season was in a league that lasted one year and the entire league, including the 2 teams everyone else beat up on, hit .299 on the whole.

Charlie Smith is a really interesting guy, and for some reason there's a ton of mis-information out there about his career. Everything from his height to the way he died has been debated and corrected over the past 10 years. Here's a link to a short piece I wrote about him last year that gives a good idea of the kind of player he was: CHINO SMITH: Like a Meteor

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Good read, thank you.

I just checked his BR page again and he's listed as 5' 11". I'm pretty sure that he was listed at 5' 6" last time I checked so maybe his actual height has been confirmed.

True, but he outhit, by a lot, guys like Oscar Charleston and Martin Dihigo in that league. And from what I've read he dominated in Cuba And on independent teams which does not show up in his BR stats.