Jimmy Brown (baseball)
Jimmy Brown | |||
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File:Jimmy Brown 1940 Play Ball card.jpeg | |||
Infielder | |||
Born: April 25, 1910 Jamesville, North Carolina |
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Died: Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Bath, North Carolina |
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MLB debut | |||
April 23, 1937, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 15, 1946, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .279 | ||
Home runs | 9 | ||
Runs batted in | 319 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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James Roberson Brown (April 25, 1910 – December 29, 1977) was a Major League Baseball infielder and coach.
Early life
Born in Jamesville, North Carolina, he played college baseball for the North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University) Wolfpack.[1]
Career
He signed with the St. Louis Cardinals afterwards and made his major league debut two days before his 27th birthday. He made an immediate impact, not only scoring 9 triples his rookie year, but also leading the league in sacrifice hits with 26.[2] His 1938 season was not as impressive, but he did manage to increase his batting average over .300.[2] Brown had a career year in 1939, not only leading the league in at-bats with 645, but finishing 6th in MVP voting.[2] He began being known as a reliable leadoff hitter and as an infielder that the Cardinals could put anywhere, having played 1936 primarily as a second baseman, 1939 as a shortstop, and 1941 as a third baseman.[2]
After a decent season in 1940, he came back with another great year in 1941, tying a career high in triples with 9, earning a career high batting average with .306, and finishing 4th in MVP voting.[2] This, however, was still not enough to earn an all-star appearance. In 1942 he managed to earn his lone all-star appearance and finish 13th in MVP voting.[2] Despite this and leading the league in at-bats with 606, his batting average dipped to .256, a career low.[2] Despite this, during the 1942 World Series, he led all Cardinals' hitters in batting average with .300 en route to their World Series victory.[3]
Brown enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces after playing 34 games during the 1943 season.[4] When World War II ended, his contract was sold for $30,000 on January 5, 1946, to the Pittsburgh Pirates; he played the 1946 season as a utility infielder before being released by the Pirates on November 15.[5]
Upon retirement, he became a manager in the Pittsburgh farm system, with the Indianapolis Indians in 1947 and the New Orleans Pelicans in 1948.[6] Brown then returned to the National League as a coach for the Boston Braves, working for three seasons (1949–51) under his old Cardinal skipper, Billy Southworth.
Later life
After leaving Boston in 1952, he was a manager for minor league teams in the farm systems of the Cardinals, Braves and Cincinnati Reds. He died December 29, 1977 in Bath, North Carolina.
References
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External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
- Jimmy Brown at Baseball Almanac
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- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1910 births
- 1977 deaths
- American military personnel of World War II
- Baseball players from North Carolina
- Boston Braves coaches
- Greensboro Patriots players
- Indianapolis Indians managers
- Indianapolis Indians players
- Major League Baseball infielders
- Minor league baseball managers
- NC State Wolfpack baseball players
- New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players
- Pittsburgh Pirates players
- Rochester Red Wings players
- St. Louis Cardinals players
- United States Army Air Forces soldiers