Lionel Richards

Lionel Richards (Smut)

• Throws Right

• Born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Biographical Information

Pitcher Lionel "Smut" Richards played both cricket and baseball on St. Thomas. Though he never played professionally in the U.S. , he played with the Ponce Leones in the Puerto Rican Winter League in the 1949-50 season. He was a member of various local teams in the Virgin Islands, including the squad that went to Wichita to play in the National Baseball Congress in 1954 -- the event at which Howie Haak noticed and signed Joe Christopher.

Horace Clarke remembered Richards as "not overpowering, but with a good knowledge of pitching and a good curveball."

Local author Liston B. Monsanto mentioned Richards and other members of the 1940s V.I. baseball scene at various points in his books, Pepper Pot and The Sequel. A ballfield at Smith Bay in St. Thomas is named for Richards.