[2] Smith also petitioned the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) for membership, but was turned down because he was with the Courier and not one of the white-owned papers.

Smith is credited with recommending Jackie Robinson to Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who was searching for individuals with strong character to successfully execute the racial integration of baseball.

The Courier offered to pay for Smith to travel with Robinson, who had to stay in separate hotels from his teammates due to segregation policies prevalent at the time.

[4][a] While at the Chicago Herald-American, Smith and writers from several other black newspapers launched a campaign to end segregation at spring training.

The campaign earned its first success when Chicago White Sox owner, Bill Veeck cancelled a hotel reservation in Florida after discovering that his black players could not stay there.

[6] Smith said: Beneath the apparently tranquil surface of baseball there is a growing feeling of resentment among Negro major leaguers who still experience embarrassment, humiliation, and even indignities during spring training in the south.