# Dave Brown (baseball)

David Brown (June 9, 1897 – May 24, 1985) was an American left-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. Considered one of the better pitchers in Negro league history, he was also known for serious off-the-field problems. His career came to a premature end when he became a fugitive after allegedly killing a man in 1925.

## Early career

Brown was born in Marquez, Texas. He was the ninth and final child to farm laborers Silas and Anna Brown. He had a good curveball and excellent control. He was also a good fielder and had outstanding speed, but was a weak hitter. Brown played with the Dallas Black Giants in 1917 and 1918. He was regarded as a "timid nice guy" who did not cause trouble, but during his time with the Black Giants, he was allegedly involved in a highway robbery. Although Brown was reported to have become a fugitive, Rube Foster agreed to pay $20,000 for Brown's parole and he became a member of Foster's Chicago American Giants. However, this story may have been fabricated by Foster after Brown left the team. According to baseball researcher Frederick C. Bush, "it is also quite likely that, in his fit of pique in 1923, Foster attributed [Dave's brother] Webster's criminal history to Dave to smear his reputation."

## Chicago American Giants seasons

After being used sparingly in 1919, Brown became the ace of the American Giants as they dominated Negro league baseball in the early 1920s. From 1920 through 1922, he posted a 43–8 record in league games.
In 1920, Brown led the Negro National League in ERA (1.82) and WHIP (0.908), compiling a 13–3 record to lead his team in wins. The American Giants won the pennant and engaged in a successful barnstorming tour after the season. Brown's 17–2 record led the team to another pennant in 1921, with his 1.004 WHIP leading the league and his 2.50 ERA second behind Bullet Rogan. For the second consecutive year, the American Giants played a postseason series against the Bacharach Giants, one of the best black baseball teams on the East Coast. After pitching well against the Giants in 1920, Brown won three games in the 1921 series.
Brown was the only pitcher from the 1921 team to return to the American Giants in 1922. His 13–3 record contributed to another pennant, and he remained in the league's top five in most major pitching statistics. In the winter following the 1922 season, Brown joined Oscar Charleston for the first season of the Cuban League's Santa Clara Leopardos.

## League change and abrupt career end

For the 1923 season, Brown left Rube Foster's American Giants for the brand new Eastern Colored League. Foster voiced his displeasure, pointing out that Brown had been paroled to him and that he had promised Brown's mother to take care of him. He pointed out that the public would vilify him if he revoked. Brown posted a losing record in his first season with the New York Lincoln Giants but he and Charleston returned to Cuba the following winter and helped Santa Clara compile one of the best records in Cuban baseball history. His second season with the Lincoln Giants improved on the first and he defeated "Cannonball" Dick Redding and the Brooklyn Royal Giants to win the New York City championship.
Brown's career came to an abrupt end in 1925. He went to a bar on the night of April 27, 1925 with Frank Wickware and Oliver Marcelle. Marcelle was a third baseman with a reputation for trouble off the field. The story at the time was that a fight erupted at the bar, possibly involving cocaine, and Brown killed one of the participants, Benjamin Adair. Wickware and Marcelle were questioned the next day at the ballpark, but Brown had disappeared. Later research indicates that he may have only been a witness, not the perpetrator.

## Rumors and legacy

The FBI searched for Brown, but he was never officially seen again. Rumors abounded that he continued playing baseball under the alias "Lefty Wilson" with semi-professional teams through the Midwestern United States. Lefty Wilson toured with Gilkerson's Union Giants in 1926, a white team in Bertha, Minnesota in 1927 and 1928, and he was rumored to have played in Sioux City, Iowa in 1929 and Little Falls, Minnesota in 1930. More unsubstantiated rumors claimed that Brown died in mysterious circumstances in Denver, Colorado in 1930. However, Lefty Wilson shows up again pitching for the Gilkerson's Union Giants again in 1932. Reportedly, he was alive in 1938. After extensive research, including contact with Brown's descendants, his SABR biographer confirmed that he lived out his life quietly on the West Coast under the name Alfred Brown, dying in 1985 in Los Angeles.
In 1927, a Pittsburgh Courier column solicited opinions for the best black baseball player of all time. On April 2, John Henry Lloyd announced his list which included Dave Brown. When the Pittsburgh Courier announced a similar list in 1952, they included Brown on their second team.
On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League". Brown has the highest Adjusted ERA+ for a starting pitcher in major league history (169), and the second highest pitcher's winning percentage after Al Spalding (.738, 62–22).