Emil Brown

Emil Quincy Brown

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 195 lb.
• School Indian River Community College
• High School Harlan High School
• Debut April 3, 1997
• Final Game June 6, 2009
• Born December 29, 1974 in Chicago, IL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

After parts of five run-of-the-mill seasons from 1997 to 2001, primarily with lousy Pittsburgh Pirates squads, Emil Brown came back to the majors with the Kansas City Royals in 2005. He batted very well in his first big league season as a regular, hitting .286/.349/.455 with 17 homers and 86 RBI in 150 games. He followed with a .287/.358/.457 season in 2006 including 41 doubles, 15 homers and 81 RBI in 147 games. Despite being the Royals' RBI leader in back-to-back seasons, Emil was never able to win over fans in Kansas City.

Brown was demoted to a platooning/pinch-hitter role during the 2007 season, seeing action in only 113 games. The hatred of Emil among Kansas City fans has two possible origins. First, Emil was the pet project of former GM Allard Baird, a man who many held single-handedly responsible for the disastrous results of the late 1990s and early 2000s teams. Secondly, during spring training 2007, Emil came out to the press angry at having to win over a starting job despite his previous two successful seasons. He further explained to the media that he was a better hitter than Vladimir Guerrero and that he could beat Carl Crawford in a foot race. Needless to say, this did not go over well. Even with the limited playing time, Emil led the Royals in RBI (62) for a third straight season, joining Carlos Beltrán as the only two men to do this for Kansas City. Emil left as a free agent in 2008, playing his final full big league season as a member of the Oakland A's. He finished his big league time with 3 games as a New York Met in 2009.