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Ray Brown Marquee Hall of Fame 2006

b. February 23, 1908 · Indianapolis ABCs 1931, Kansas City Monarchs 1931, Detroit Wolves 1932, Homestead Grays 1932–1945

Only Warren Spahn, with eight, has more wins titles than his six, won in 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1942 and 1944. He also led in saves four times, in shutouts three and in strikeouts three. Across fourteen seasons from 1931 he went 122-45 in 218 recorded games with 711 strikeouts, working roughly 1,486 innings.

The .733 winning percentage came pitching for the Homestead Grays through the years they dominated the Negro National League. He batted .267 with 341 hits and played 213 games in the outfield on the days he was not pitching. He was chosen for two East-West All-Star games.

He married Cum Posey's daughter; Posey owned the Grays. He finished his career in Mexico and Canada and died in Dayton at fifty-six. The Hall of Fame elected him in 2006 through the special Negro Leagues committee. The figures are partial because these statistics were not kept with the resources the white major leagues had.

Honors

AwardTimesYears
Negro Leagues East-West Classic 2 1935, 1940

Batting, season by season

YearTeam GABR H2B3B HRRBIBB SOSBAVG
1931 AB2/KCM 3171617 411 8550 .239
1932 DW/HG 441502136 1030 16701 .240
1933 HG 20811122 732 15201 .272
1934* HG 20711321 525 17510 .296
1935 HG 361182833 1235 291814 .280
1936 HG 2780823 111 10901 .287
1937 HG 35872528 513 191100 .322
1938 HG 33932127 906 221010 .290
1939 HG 19711418 301 8411 .254
1940 HG 32801226 322 101010 .325
1941 HG 3378916 313 8642 .205
1942 HG 361121325 611 9730 .223
1943 HG 411111332 321 231210 .288
1944 HG 31811326 322 171010 .321
1945 HG 2776516 520 131610 .211
Major leagues 4451289199345 742228 2071271910 .268
All seasons 4651360212366 792433 2241322010 .269

Pitching, season by season

YearTeam WLG GSSVIP HERBB SOERA
1931 AB2/KCM 751813 0114.090 3233702.53
1932 DW/HG 771612 1115.1119 4738513.67
1933 HG 62109 072.274 2418422.97
1934* HG 1233 021.229 156136.23
1935 HG 851712 1105.099 3841483.26
1936 HG 63139 186.277 3826393.95
1937 HG 1132112 4126.0109 4537743.21
1938 HG 1402011 3129.0106 2826701.95
1939 HG 6177 059.169 3016144.55
1940 HG 1722118 0165.1137 3845752.07
1941 HG 862013 3129.1137 4938703.41
1942 HG 1362016 0141.2141 5549603.49
1943 HG 61159 177.078 3526304.09
1944 HG 1011714 1127.1130 4623503.25
1945 HG 3365 041.142 208204.35
Major leagues 12245221160 151490.01408 525424713 3.17
All seasons 12347224163 151511.21437 540430726 3.21

Seasons outside MLB's recognized major leagues appear in All seasons, but not in Major leagues or the leaderboards. For Ray Brown, that is 1934–1934. Why totals can differ.

On this day & linked events

1908

Born February 23, 1908

McDonald Township, OH, USA

1965

Died February 8, 1965

1945

Final major-league game: Ray Brown

Ray Brown played a final major-league game on September 26, 1945.