Negro Leagues Museum looking to create monument for Kansas City Monarch Hilton Smith

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - One month after the Negro Leagues statistics were added to the MLB record books, efforts continue to remember the unsung heroes of baseball. The Negro Leagues Museum and the American Association Kansas City Monarchs is now looking to create a monument in honor of Hilton Smith.

“Hilton Smith is one of the greatest pitchers to ever play this game,” said Negro Leagues Museum president Bob Kendrick.

As Kendrick explains, the name Hilton Smith often gets overshadowed by fellow baseball great Satchel Paige.

“Hilton Smith was the polar opposite. Quiet. Unassuming. Workman-like, but just as lethal on the mound,” said Kendrick.

But he says this doesn’t mean Smith’s light gets any dimmer. Kendrick says Smith’s curveball spoke for itself.

“My friend the late, great Buck O’ Neil would say it was the greatest curveball he’d ever seen,” said Kendrick, “Hall of famer Monte Irvin would go on to  say that you could know Hilton’s curveball was coming but the brake on it was so sharp you still couldn’t hit it,” said Kendrick.

Kendrick says when Smith wasn’t pitching, he played the outfield and had a lifetime batting average of over 300. In 2001, Smith was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite all of his accomplishments, those who knew him say he was known for being modest.

“If he had a vote, he would probably say no, I don’t need this monument,” said Negro Leagues baseball museum co-founder Larry Lester.

Although it may not be what he would have wanted, supporters feel a monument is what Smith deserves and museum members are raising the funds to make it happen. Lester knew Smith during his time as a coach for the Ban Johnson collegiate team in the 1970′s and 1980′s.

“People will become curious and they ask ‘Who is Hilton Smith,” said Lester.

This comes at a time when the museum says it  is seeing a heightened interest of people wanting to learn more about the unsung history of baseball.

“We’re seeing it through the turnstiles here at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum over the past several weeks,” said Kendrick, “People wanting to embrace it, gain a greater understanding, and I hope in the process an even greater appreciation for what this history represents both on and off the field,” said Kendrick.

Now Lester says his efforts continue to have Hilton Smith featured in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

The GoFundMe page can be found here.