Otis Brannan

Otis Owen Brannan

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 160 lb.
• School First District Agricultural and Mechanical College
• Debut April 11, 1928
• Final Game October 5, 1929
• Born March 13, 1899 in Greenbrier, AR USA
• Died June 6, 1967 in Little Rock, AR USA

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Biographical Information

Otis Brannan was a 29-year-old rookie for the 1928 St. Louis Browns, serving as regular second baseman, and played 23 more games for the 1929 squad to finish his big league career.

Brannan was born in 1899 in Greenbrier, AR, 40 miles north of Little Rock. He attended First District Agricultural and Mechanical College and was the first player from that institution to come to the majors - the second, years later, was George Kell. Otis played a couple seasons for Tulsa immediately before coming to the majors, and after his major league days played four years for the Hollywood Stars before appearing several seasons for teams in Arkansas and elsewhere in the South. With Hollywood, in 1933, he was a teammate of the young Vince DiMaggio. He also played Cuban winter ball.

One site quotes Heinie Manush as saying Brannan was a fair hitter but not much of a fielder. Manush asked the manager to play Ski Melillo at second instead of Brannan when Manush was contesting Goose Goslin for the batting championship. Manush figured Melillo would be better at cutting off potential hits by Goslin, and per Manush, Melillo did stop a few.