Lew Brown

Lewis J. Brown
(Blower)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10½", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut June 17, 1876
• Final Game October 19, 1884
• Born February 1, 1858 in Leominster, MA USA
• Died January 15, 1889 in Boston, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"'Blower' refers to Brown's profinity for boasting. He thought so much of his ability to box that he challenged Joe Goss, the bare knuckle heavyweight champion of the world, to a bout. Goss dismissed the challenge with such contempt that Brown was the laughing stock of the baseball world." - James K. Skipper Jr., Baseball Nicknames

Lew Brown played catcher and first base in the new National League and then later in the American Association and the Union Association. In addition to catcher and first, he occasionally appeared in the outfield and had two pitching appearances. Brown started his career as primarily a catcher but moved to first base as he got older. In the 1884 Union Association, however, he played more catcher than anywhere else. The SABR biography of Curry Foley says that Lew played for the amateur Boston Stars around 1874.

Brown was apparently a star at a young age (one site calls him "much heralded") as he had the best range factor among catchers in 1876 when he was 18 years old and playing for the Boston Red Caps. Brown had an excellent year with the bat with the Providence Grays in 1878 when he was second in the league in both doubles and RBI. Brown's teams were almost always above average. In 1877 his Red Caps won the pennant. Oddly, in both 1879 and 1883 he started the season with the eventual pennant-winning team but finished the season with another team. He was added to the "blacklist" at an 1881 National League meeting barring him from playing for or against any NL team. He was reinstated in 1883. As a result, he was out of organized baseball for the entire 1882 season.

After baseball, he was manager of a "sporting house". He died young. He was wrestling with a friend, and hurt his knee. There was a "complication of troubles" while in the hospital, including pneumonia, and he did not make it out alive. Sporting Life of January 23, 1889 has his obituary, saying that he was great at stopping the ball behind the plate, playing without equipment of any kind, and mentioning that he started in 1875 with Louisville.

Related Sites

• Lew Brown at the SABR Bio Project