Lewis J. Brown (February 1, 1858 – January 15, 1889) was an American Major League Baseballcatcher and first baseman for seven seasons and played for six different teams from 1876 to 1884. Brown was primarily a catcher, but he also logged over 100 games as a first baseman. He also appeared twice as a pitcher.
Career
Before playing in the major leagues, Brown was a member of the Boston Stars, a popular amateur team that played at Boston Common. He was teammates on that club with future major league player John Morrill.[1]
In 1876, Brown debuted in the major leagues. Two of his early teams - the 1877 Boston Red Caps and the 1879 Providence Grays - won league pennants.[1] Brown missed the 1882 season due to being blacklisted for "confirmed dissipation and general insubordination."[2] He retired from baseball after the 1884 season.
After baseball
By 1887, he was working as a bartender at the Saracen's Head, a Boston saloon run by the widow of boxer Joe Goss. He played in a benefit game that year with other retired players at the South End Grounds, and he had gained a surprising amount of weight since leaving baseball.[3] By July 1888, Brown said that he had reduced his weight to 214 pounds and that he was hoping to play baseball again.[4]
Death
In 1889, Brown died at the Boston City Hospital at the age of 30. The Chicago Tribune explained further: One night at the Saracen's Head, Brown was engaged in a friendly wrestling match with a customer, and the men did not stop wrestling when Mrs. Goss asked them to do so. She became angry and swung at the men with a piece of gas pipe, striking Brown in the knee. The injury led to the amputation of Brown's leg, and he was said to have been left in a weak and delirious state. He died of pneumonia during that hospitalization.[5]
