| Bobby Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born:(1924-10-25)October 25, 1924 Seattle, Washington, U.S. | |
| Died: March 25, 2021(2021-03-25) (aged 96) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 22, 1946, for the New York Yankees | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| June 30, 1954, for the New York Yankees | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .279 |
| Home runs | 22 |
| Runs batted in | 237 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Robert William Brown (October 25, 1924 – March 25, 2021) was an American professionalbaseballthird baseman and executive who was the president of theAmerican League (AL) from 1984 to 1994. He also was a physician who studied for his medical degree during his eight-year playing career with theNew York Yankees (1946–1952, 1954), where he was a member of fourWorld Series championship teams.
Brown was born inSeattle,Washington, on October 25, 1924.[1][2] He attendedGalileo High School in San Francisco, where he attained straight-As and served as president of the student body.[1][3] He studied atStanford University starting in 1942,[1] where he and another student were involved in the rescue of a Coast Guardsman from a plane crash. Brown consequently received aSilver Lifesaving Medal for his effort.[4] While at Stanford, he joined the Sigma Rho chapter ofDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was chosen in theSelective Service draft one year later and was initially stationed at the naval unit at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). There, he played baseball for theUCLA Bruins, before being temporarily assigned to theNaval Medical Center San Diego. He was subsequently transferred to theTulane University School of Medicine in December 1944 and discharged from the navy in January 1946.[1] He was signed as an amateur free agent by theNew York Yankees before the 1946 season.[2]
Brown played one season in the minor leagues in 1946.[5] He made his MLB debut on September 22, 1946, one month short of his 22nd birthday,[2] recording his firsthit and scoring his firstrun in a 4–3 win over thePhiladelphia Athletics.[6] He was employed as apinch hitter on four occasions during the1947 World Series and went a perfect 3-for-3, collecting asingle, twodoubles, and awalk.[1]
Brown had the fifth-mosterrors as athird baseman in theAmerican League in 1949 with 13.[2] In theWorld Series that year, he hit a bases-loadedtriple in Game 4,[7] and a two-run triple in the championship-clinching Game 5.[8] He tripled again in the final game of the1950 World Series.[9]
Nicknamed as "Golden Boy" and "Blond Phenom" during his baseball career,[10] Brown played 548 regular-season games for the Yankees,[2] mostly as aplatoon third baseman.[11] He had a lifetimebatting average of .279 and 22home runs. In addition, he appeared in fourWorld Series (1947,1949,1950,1951) for New York, winning all four while batting .439 (18-for-41) in 17 games.[2][11] Brown batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He missed 19 months due to military service during theKorean War.[11] He played his final major league game on June 30, 1954, at the age of 29.[2]
A famous story that has made the rounds for years in baseball circles, and was told by Brown himself,[12] concerns the time when Brown's road roommate inTriple-A was future star YankeecatcherYogi Berra, who had little formal education. The two were reading in their hotel room one night – Berra a comic book and Brown his copy ofBoyd's Pathology. Berra came to the end of his comic, tossed it aside, and asked Brown, "So, how is yours turning out?"[13]
Brown practicedcardiology in theDallas–Fort Worth area until May 1974, when he took a leave of absence to serve as an interim president of the ALTexas Rangers – then returned to medicine following the season.[1] In 1984, he succeededLee MacPhail as AL president and held the post for a decade.Gene Budig succeeded him. In1992 and1993, Brown presented theWorld Series Trophy (on both occasions to theToronto Blue Jays), as at the time the office ofCommissioner of Baseball was officially vacant, withBud Selig exercising the powers of the commissioner as chairman of the executive council. The presidencies of both theAmerican League and theNational League were eliminated in 2000, and their duties were absorbed by the office of the Commissioner.[14]
A decorated veteran of two wars, a noted baseball player who served on five championship teams (only playing in four World Series), an accomplished physician, and president of the American League, Brown is considered to have few equals in the history of major league baseball.[15]
Brown was a contestant on the game showTo Tell The Truth on March 26, 1957.[16]
Brown's wife of more than 60 years, Sara, died on March 26, 2012. They were married in October 1951, shortly after the 1951 World Series.[17] The Browns made a striking couple for decades. During his final Old-Timers’ Day visit in 2019, Brown recalled their dating days and remembered giving his future wife advice on how she should describe him to her parents. “Tell your mother that I’m in medical school, studying to be a cardiologist,” he said. “Tell your dad that I play third base for the Yankees.”[18]
Brown died on March 25, 2021, at his home inFort Worth, Texas.[19] He was 96, and was the last living member of the Yankees team that won the 1947 World Series.[10][14] He was also the last surviving member of the Yankees teams that won the World Series in 1949, 1950, and 1951. His good friend, Eddie Robinson, was the last surviving member of the 1948 Cleveland Indians World Series-winning team. There are no living players who played on an earlier World Series-winning teams.[citation needed]
