Robert William Brown (October 25, 1924 – March 25, 2021) was an American professional baseballthird baseman and executive who was the president of the American League (AL) from 1984 to 1994. He also was a physician who studied for his medical degree during his eight-year playing career with the New York Yankees (1946–1952, 1954), where he was a member of four World Series championship teams.
Brown played one season in the minor leagues in 1946.[4] He made his MLB debut on September 22, 1946, one month short of his 22nd birthday,[2] recording his first hit and scoring his first run in a 4–3 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.[5] He was employed as a pinch hitter on four occasions during the 1947 World Series and went a perfect 3-for-3, collecting a single, two doubles, and a walk.[1]
Nicknamed as "Golden Boy" and "Blond Phenom" during his baseball career,[9] Brown played 548 regular-season games for the Yankees,[2] mostly as a platoon third baseman.[10] He had a lifetime batting average of .279 and 22 home runs. In addition, he appeared in four World Series (1947, 1949, 1950, 1951) for New York, winning all four while batting .439 (18-for-41) in 17 games.[2][10] Brown batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He missed 19 months due to military service during the Korean War.[10] 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,[11] concerns the time when Brown's road roommate in Triple-A was future star Yankee catcherYogi Berra, who had little formal education. The two were reading in their hotel room one night – Berra a comic book and Brown his copy of Boyd's Pathology. Berra came to the end of his comic, tossed it aside, and asked Brown, "So, how is yours turning out?"[12]
Post-playing career
Brown practiced cardiology in the Dallas–Fort Worth area until May 1974, when he took a leave of absence to serve as an interim president of the AL Texas Rangers – then returned to medicine following the season.[1] In 1984, he succeeded Lee MacPhail as AL president and held the post for a decade. Gene Budig succeeded him. In 1992 and 1993, Brown presented the World Series Trophy (on both occasions to the Toronto Blue Jays), as at the time the office of Commissioner of Baseball was officially vacant, with Bud Selig exercising the powers of the commissioner as chairman of the executive council. The presidencies of both the American League and the National League were eliminated in 2000, and their duties were absorbed by the office of the Commissioner.[13]
Personal life
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.[14]
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.[16] 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.” [17]
Brown died on March 25, 2021, at his home in Fort Worth, Texas.[18] He was 96, and was the last living member of the Yankees team that won the 1947 World Series.[9][13] 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]
