Satchel Paige called him one of the two most dangerous hitters in Negro league history, the other being Jud Wilson.

In 1930, Smith played in the first game involving a black team at Yankee Stadium; he hit a triple and two home runs.

[2] The incomplete records of the time show that Smith had a .423 career batting average in Negro league competition.

Sometimes he would spit at a pitcher's best offerings as it came across the plate, taking two strikes before lining a base hit through the middle.

On what would have been his 51st birthday, Smith got the second most votes as best right fielder in the 1952 Pittsburgh Courier player-voted poll of the Negro leagues' best players ever.