John Ford Smith (January 9, 1919 – February 26, 1983) was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1930s and 1940s.

[1] He broke into the Negro leagues in 1939 with the Chicago American Giants, and played with the Indianapolis Crawfords in 1940 and the Kansas City Monarchs in 1941.

He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II,[citation needed] and after his service returned to play with Kansas City from 1946 to 1948.

[citation needed] Smith and Baseball Hall of Famer Monte Irvin signed with the New York Giants on the same day in 1949,[2] and Smith spent the next several years playing in the minor leagues.

In 1949 and 1950, he played for the Jersey City Giants, in 1951 for the Drummondville Cubs, 1952 and 1953 for the Phoenix Senators, and 1954 for the El Paso Texans.