Bob Brown (baseball, born 1876)

Robert Paul Brown (July 5, 1876 – June 17, 1962) was an American-born Canadian professional baseball player, manager, and team owner.[1] He was active in minor league baseball in various capacities from 1900 through 1953, appearing in over 600 games as player and managing for at least 14 seasons. He was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and served in the U.S. military during the Spanish–American War.

Bob Brown
Brown in 1919, as manager of the Vancouver Beavers
Outfielder / Middle infielder / Manager / Owner
Born: (1876-07-05)July 5, 1876
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Died: June 17, 1962(1962-06-17) (aged 85)
Vancouver, British Columbia
Batted: Unknown Threw: Right

Baseball career

As a player, Brown was listed at 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) and 156 pounds (71 kg); he threw right-handed.[2] He played primarily as an outfielder and middle infielder.[2] Note that minor league baseball records from the era that Brown was a player and manager are often incomplete.

Player

Brown's professional baseball career spanned 1900 to 1917, with gaps, and a final season in 1926.[2] In 1900, he started his minor career with the Helena Senators,[2] where he was teammates with Joe Tinker.[3][4] Early career stops included Pendleton, Oregon; Portland, Oregon; and Aberdeen, Washington,[2] where in 1904, where he was catcher, manager and ran a shoe store.[3] His longest stay with a single team was with the Aberdeen Pippins of the Southwest Washington League during 1903–1905.[2] Baseball records do not list him as playing professionally during 1908; he returned to play in 1909 with the Spokane Indians and in 1910 with the Vancouver Beavers.[2] After not playing professionally during 1911–1914, he resumed playing with Vancouver in 1915 and 1916, and in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1917.[2] Records also show him playing 34 games in the Southwestern League in 1926, when he was also manager of the team based in Ponca City, Oklahoma.[2][5] Brown appeared in at least 666 minor league games as a player.[2]

Manager

Brown was a manager for all or part of 14 seasons, as early as 1902 and as late as 1926.[2] For many of those season, he was also a player. He first managed the Pendleton team in 1902, and then managed every season from 1904 through 1911, including four seasons in Aberdeen.[2] After managing in Vancouver in 1910 and 1911, he did not manage for four seasons, then returned to manage in Vancouver during 1916, 1917, 1920, and 1922.[2] His final season as a manager was 1926 with Ponca City, also his final season as a player.[2]

Owner

Between the 1909 and 1910 seasons, Brown took over sixty percent ownership of the Vancouver Beavers for $500,[3] moving to Canada to take on the role of the team's player-manager. While Brown owned the Beavers, manager Kitty Brashier guided the team to Northwestern League championships in 1911; the Beavers were also champions in 1913 and 1914, while the team was second in the league in 1912.[3]

Brown also owned the Vancouver Bears (later the Vancouver Capilanos).[1] As a promoter, he organized the first night baseball game played in Canada, in 1930.[1] Brown had built 5,000-seat[3] Athletic Park on land leased from the Canadian Pacific Railway.[1] The park opened 18 April 1913.[1] The Beavers moved from Recreation Park that same year.[3] He also initiated the building of Capilano Stadium, a 5,157-seat baseball stadium which opened 1951 in Vancouver.

Brown retired as owner of the Capilanos in 1953, the year he became President of the Western International League, a post he held only one year.[3] He was named honorary league president in 1954, and honorary president of the Vancouver Mounties in 1956.[3]

Honours

In 1952, Sporting News named Brown one of the ten best general managers in baseball.[3] In 1966, Brown was inducted as an inaugural member into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in the baseball category,[6] and in 1989 he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a builder.[7] The Vancouver Canadians mascot is named “Bob Brown Bear” in honour of him.

Personal life

Born on July 5, 1876, in Scranton, Pennsylvania,[1][2] Brown attended the University of Notre Dame during the 1890s, where he played football with the Fighting Irish and won varsity letters in football and baseball.[3] In 1898, he enlisted in the United States Army to fight in the Spanish–American War.[3] He graduated from Notre Dame in 1900.[3] Brown died on June 23, 1962, in St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver.[3]

References
  1. Vancouver History Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  2. "Bob Brown". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  3. Beddoes, Dick (22 June 1962). "City Loses Mr. Baseball: Era Ends as Bob Brown Dies in St. Paul's at 85". Vancouver Baseball. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2015 – via Wayback Machine.
  4. "1900 Helena Senators". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  5. "Begin Play Today In Southwestern". Emporia Gazette. Emporia, Kansas. AP. May 6, 1926. p. 6. Retrieved August 16, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
  6. BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
  7. Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum » Bob Brown
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