Lewis J. Brown (February 1, 1858 – January 15, 1889) was an American Major League Baseball catcher and first baseman for seven seasons and played for six different teams from 1876 to 1884. Brown was primarily a catcher, but he also logged over 100 games as a first baseman. He also appeared twice as a pitcher.
Career
Before playing in the major leagues, Brown was a member of the Boston Stars, a popular amateur team that played at Boston Common. He was teammates on that club with future major league player John Morrill.[1]
In 1876, Brown debuted in the major leagues. Two of his early teams - the 1877 Boston Red Caps and the 1879 Providence Grays - won league pennants.[1] Brown missed the 1882 season due to being blacklisted for "confirmed dissipation and general insubordination."[2] He retired from baseball after the 1884 season.
After baseball
By 1887, he was working as a bartender at the Saracen's Head, a Boston saloon run by the widow of boxer Joe Goss. He played in a benefit game that year with other retired players at the South End Grounds, and he had gained a surprising amount of weight since leaving baseball.[3] By July 1888, Brown said that he had reduced his weight to 214 pounds and that he was hoping to play baseball again.[4]
Death
In 1889, Brown died at the Boston City Hospital at the age of 30. The Chicago Tribune explained further: One night at the Saracen's Head, Brown was engaged in a friendly wrestling match with a customer, and the men did not stop wrestling when Mrs. Goss asked them to do so. She became angry and swung at the men with a piece of gas pipe, striking Brown in the knee. The injury led to the amputation of Brown's leg, and he was said to have been left in a weak and delirious state. He died of pneumonia during that hospitalization.[5]
Brown is interred at Forest Hills Cemetery.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Lew Brown dead". Boston Globe. January 17, 1889.
- ^ Baseball Library Chronology: 1881 Archived 2008-01-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nemec, David (2011). Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 1: The Ballplayers Who Built the Game. U of Nebraska Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780803230248.
- ^ "Little ones for a cent". Boston Globe. July 14, 1888.
- ^ "Gossip of the diamond". Chicago Tribune. February 3, 1889.
- ^ "Lew Brown's career statistics". retrosheet.org. Retrosheet, Inc. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)