Claire Smith (born July 1, 1954) is an American sportswriter, who covered Major League Baseball for the Hartford Courant, The New York Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

She has an older brother, William Jr., born on the day Bobby Thomson hit the famous walk-off home run to win the pennant against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[2] Smith covered the New York Yankees from 1983 to 1987 as the first female Major League Baseball beat writer, working for the Hartford Courant.

Peter Ueberroth, the newly appointed Baseball Commissioner, declared a new rule the next day requiring equal access for all major league locker rooms.

[7] Claire Smith was elected the 2017 recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) on December 6, 2016.