There was a bit of a choice in who we could profile today as part of our ongoing Yankee Birthday Series. As far as playing careers go, the obvious choice would’ve been Juan Soto. However, even without factoring in his still recent departure across the city, I still think I would opt to instead write about today’s player.
There are few people who have ever had a wider and more well-traveled life than Bobby Brown.
Robert William “Bobby” Brown Born: October 25, 1924 (Seattle, WA) Died: March 25, 2021
(Fort Worth, TX) Yankees Tenure: 1946-52, 1954
While he was born in the Pacific Northwest, Brown moved around with his family a lot in his youth. They eventually settled in San Francisco, where Bobby attended Galileo High School, which was the same as Joe DiMaggio and his fellow MLB brothers. (However, Brown was several years younger than any of the DiMaggios.)
In his youth, Brown was a standout athlete, but got a lot of shine for his baseball ability. His father had played baseball to a semi-pro level, even playing against a young Lou Gehrig. The younger Brown had MLB offers coming out of high school, but instead decided to attend Stanford University. While there, he and another student helped rescue a Coast Guardsman from a plane crash.
With the US having entered World War II in 1941, however, Brown soon enlisted in the Navy. He never ended up going overseas. He had stints in San Diego and New Orleans, which allowed him to also continue his studies, as he attended medical school and played baseball for UCLA and Tulane during that time. Brown was eventually discharged from the Navy in 1946 and signed with the Yankees shortly after.
Brown spent most of 1946 with the Yankees’ affiliate in Newark. He was road roommates with Yogi Berra during his minor league career. That produced a famous story where Berra finished reading a comic book and asked Brown, who was reading a medical journal while continuing his med school studies, “So how is yours turning out?” On the field, Brown impressed with a .341 batting average, finishing only behind some guy named Jackie Robinson in the International League’s batting title race. That earned him a September call-up later that same season, where he hit well in a seven-game cameo.
The following season, Brown became an MLB regular, playing backup to Billy Johnson at third base while filling in elsewhere. He hit pretty well in general, but saved his best for the biggest stage. The Yankees used Brown as a pinch hitter on four occasions in the 1947 World Series, and he recorded three hits and a walk, reaching base every time. One of those occasions was in Game 7: down 2-1, he hit an RBI double in the fourth inning to tie the game. The hit also moved Phil Rizzuto to third, from which he scored on a Tommy Henrich single. The Yankees ended up winning the game 5-2, taking the series over the Dodgers.
Over the next two years, Brown’s playing time increased and he became the primary third baseman in 1949. He helped the Yankees to another World Series crown that year, this time hitting .500 in the five-game victory over Brooklyn. In total, Brown would win four World Series titles while a member of the Yankees. In 17 career games in the Fall Classic, he hit .439/.500/.707 with eight extra-base hits and a 1.207 OPS — though he missed out on the last two years of the Yankees’ five-peat as he was drafted to serve as a doctor in the Korean War.
Brown returned to the Yankees in 1954. However, he didn’t hit particularly well in his comeback. Following that, he decided to retire and go full time into the medical fields.
For the next couple decades, Brown worked exclusively in medicine, most of which came at a private practice that he opened in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1974, he briefly returned to baseball, serving as the interim president of the Texas Rangers. His friend, Brad Corbett, had purchased the team and asked for Brown’s help. His former Yankees teammate, Billy Martin, helped Texas to an above .500 record, but they missed the playoffs and Brown returned to his practice after the season.
Ten years after that, Brown returned to baseball in a more permanent way when he was named president of the American League. He served in the role until 1994. The league president jobs no longer exist today, with their previous duties now part of the commissioner’s responsibilities. Brown eventually retired to Fort Worth, where he lived until his passing in 2021. He was the final living member of several of his Yankees’ championship teams at that time.
Brown once told a story about the early days of his relationship with his wife, whom he remained married to for over 60 years. When his then-girlfriend asked Brown how she should describe him to her parents, Brown said “Tell your mother that I’m in medical school, studying to be a cardiologist. Tell your dad that I play third base for the Yankees.” The fact that both of those are true about the same person is remarkable and something we’ll probably never see again.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
