Hilton Smith Marquee Hall of Fame 2001

He led the Negro American League in strikeouts in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941, five straight, and in wins three times and in shutouts three times. Over thirteen seasons from 1932 he went 71-37 in 169 games with 626 strikeouts and eight shutouts, and he could hit: 163 hits at .301 across 255 recorded games.

The Monarchs advertised Paige and sold the tickets on him, and the arrangement was often that Paige pitched three innings and Smith finished the game. Each of them was chosen for six East-West All-Star games. The figures are partial because these statistics were not kept with the resources the white major leagues had.

He was forty when the color line fell and no major-league club came. He worked afterward in a Kansas City school and as a scout. The Veterans Committee elected him in 2001, eighteen years after he died, and the case made for him rested on the seasons above rather than on anybody's memory.