Joe LeRoy Brown (September 1, 1918 – August 15, 2010)^[1] was an American front office executive inMajor League Baseball.

Brown served as thegeneral manager of thePittsburgh Pirates from November 1,1955, through the end of the1976 season.^[2] Under his administration, the Pirates recovered from four consecutive last-place finishes in theNational League to world championships in1960 and1971. Led by the greatBaseball Hall of Fame playersRoberto Clemente,Bill Mazeroski andWillie Stargell, the Bucs became consistent contenders for much of Brown's 21-year tenure, finishing in thefirst division six times between 1956 and 1968, and capturing fiveNational League East Division titles from 1969 through 1976.

Brown was a native ofNew York, but grew up inSouthern California. The son of actor-comedianJoe E. Brown(Some Like It Hot), he inherited his father's passion for baseball. Brown first metBranch Rickey, his predecessor in Pittsburgh, when Brown was 16 years of age, in 1935. He enteredminor league baseball after his graduation fromUCLA in1939 as a front-office official with theLubbockHubbers of the Class DWest Texas–New Mexico League. He served in theUnited States Army Air Forces during the World War II era, then joined the administrative staff of theHollywood Stars of theTriple-APacific Coast League in1946.

Brown came to the Pittsburgh organization in1950 as business manager of theirWaco Piratesfarm team in the Class BBig State League, then theirNew Orleans Pelicans club in theDouble-ASouthern Association. He joined the Pittsburgh front office in 1955, reunited with Rickey, who was in his final season as general manager.^[3]

When Rickey, 73, retired to become the club's board chairman at the close of the 1955 campaign, Brown was the unanimous choice of that board (which also included part-ownerBing Crosby) to succeed him. Brown's first order of business was to find a successor to firedskipperFred Haney. While his first choice,Bobby Bragan, was a misfire, Brown struck gold in August1957 when he replaced Bragan withDanny Murtaugh, a former Piratesecond baseman then in his second season as acoach. Under Murtaugh, the Bucs became contenders in1958, finishing in second place, won the1960 and1971 World Series, and three more NL East titles (1970; 1974–75). Although he twice was compelled to step down for health reasons, Murtaugh would serve four separate terms as Brown's field manager (1957–64; 1967; 1970–71; 1973–76), and compile a 1,115–950 (.540) record. Two months after Brown's and Murtaugh's joint retirement at the conclusion of the1976 campaign, Murtaugh suffered a fatalstroke at age 59.

Brown maintained and built upon the strongscouting and player development system created during Rickey's term as the Bucs' general manager. He also swung multiple shrewd trades, acquiring players such asHarvey Haddix,Smoky Burgess,Bill Virdon,Don Hoak,Hal Smith andVinegar Bend Mizell, who would play key roles in Pittsburgh's 1960 championship. His 1971 club was almost exclusively produced from the Pirates' strong farm system, which mined talent from the Caribbean and Latin America. Brown would frequently accompany fabled scoutHowie Haak on Haak's trips to Latin America.

Brown remained in the Pirates organization as aSouthern California-basedscout. He came out of semi-retirement as executive vice president and general manager again on May 23, 1985 when he replacedHarding Peterson who had succeeded him after the1976 season.^[4] At the time, the ball club was rocked by adrug scandal, poor play, falling attendance and was on the verge of being sold by theJohn W. Galbreath family to a local consortium. Brown returned to semi-retirement upon the appointment ofSyd Thrift as his successor 5½ months later on November 7.^[5]

He died on August 15, 2010, inAlbuquerque, New Mexico at age 91.^[1] He was survived by his son Don and daughter Cynthia.

• 1918 births
• 2010 deaths
• 20th-century American businesspeople
• Businesspeople from New York City
• Major League Baseball general managers
• Pittsburgh Pirates executives
• Pittsburgh Pirates scouts
• United States Army Air Forces soldiers
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni

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