Born in
Alger, Ohio, he had a large variety of pitches in his arsenal, including a sinker, a slider, and even a knuckleball, but his best pitch was his
curveball. Brown would fire the curveball at a batter no matter what the count was, having supreme confidence in that pitch. Brown played for
Cum Posey's
Homestead Grays from 1932 to 1945. Brown married Posey's daughter, Ethel. In
1944, he went 9–3 for the champion Grays, and threw a one-hit
shutout in the
Negro World Series to put them on top of the African-American baseball world. In
1945, he threw a seven-inning
perfect game. After his long stint with the Grays, he opted to play in Mexico and in the
Canadian Provincial League in his final years. In those years, he continued to dominate most batters, leading Sherbrooke to a title in the Provincial League. He also pitched a
no-hitter for
Santa Clara of the
Cuban Winter League, a baseball sanctuary, at that time, for many black players during the winter season. Brown also helped them to the Cuban title that year (1936). In the Negro league version of the
All-Star Game, the
East-West All-Star Game, Brown got the start in
1935. Brown led the league in wins eight times (1931, 1935, 1937–38, 1940–42, 1944). He also led the league in ERA twice (1938, 1940) along with three times in strikeouts (1931, 1937–38) among statistics that ranged from games played to innings. He was tied with
Hilton Smith as the second player in Negro league history to win the pitching Triple Crown, doing so in 1938 with 14 wins, 70 strikeouts, and a 1.88 ERA. Like most great Negro leaguers, Brown
managed as well later on in his career. He was one of five black players mentioned as being of major league caliber in a 1938 wire sent to the
Pittsburgh Pirates by the
Pittsburgh Courier. The other four were
Josh Gibson,
Buck Leonard,
Cool Papa Bell and
Satchel Paige. Brown died at age 56 in
Dayton, Ohio. He was named to the
Washington Nationals Ring of Honor for his "significant contribution to the game of baseball in Washington, D.C." as part of the
Homestead Grays on August 10, 2010. ==Notes==