Bob Brown (baseball, born 1876)

Robert Paul "Bob" Brown (July 5, 1876 – June 23, 1962) was an American-born Canadian professional baseball player, manager, and executive.[1] From 1938 to 1953 he was president of the Western International League.

Born on July 5, 1876 in Scranton, Pennsylvania,[2] Brown attended the University of Notre Dame during the 1890s, where he played football with the Fighting Irish and won letters in football and baseball.[3] He graduated in 1900.<[3]

In 1898, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the Spanish–American War.<[3]

He played professional baseball from 1900 until 1909.[1] Starting as an infielder in Helena, he was teammates with Joe Tinker.[3] From there, he went to Pendleton, Oregon, ending up in Aberdeen, Washington in 1904, where he was both catcher and manager.[3] (He also ran a shoe store.)[3]

In 1908, he helped his team, the Spokane Indians capture the Pacific Coast League championship.[4]

In 1910,[5] he took over sixty percent ownership of the Vancouver Beavers[3] for $500.[3] moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to take on the role of the team's playing manager. While Brown owned the Beavers, manager Kitty Brashier guided the team to Northwestern League championships in 1911; the Beavers were also champions in 1913 and 1914, while the team was second in the league in 1912.[3] In 1942, as the Capilanos, manager Don Osborne led them to a Western International League title,[3] while Bill Brenner (promoted from catcher to manager the previous year) did the same in 1947.[3]

Brown also owned the Vancouver Bears (later the Canadians).[1]

As a shrewd promoter, he organized the first night baseball game played in Canada, in 1930.[6]

Brown had built 5,000-seat[3] Athletic Park on land leased from the Canadian Pacific Railway.[1] (The park opened 18 April 1913.)[1] The Beavers moved from Recreation Park that same year.[3] He also initiated the building of Capilano Stadium, a 5,157-seat baseball stadium which opened 1951 in Vancouver.

He retired as owner of the Capilanos in 1953, the year he became President of the Western International League, a post he held only one year.<[3] He was named honorary league president in 1954, and honorary president of the Vancouver Mounties in 1956.[3]

Brown died on June 23, 1962 in St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver.[3]

Honours

In 1952, Sporting News named him one of the ten best general managers in baseball.<[3]

In 1966, Brown was inducted as an inaugural member into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in the baseball category,[7] and in 1989 he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a builder.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Vancouver History Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Vancouver History (retrieved 12 May 2015) & Vancouver Baseball (retrieved 15 May 2015) say Glencoe, Iowa.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Vancouver Baseball Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Vancouver History Retrieved 12 May 2015. Vancouver Baseball (retrieved 15 May 2015) dates his move to Spokane as 1909.
  5. ↑ Vancouver Baseball (retrieved 15 May 2015) dates it Fall 1909.
  6. ↑ Vancouver History (retrieved 12 May 2015); Vancouver Baseball (retrieved 15 May 2015).
  7. ↑ BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
  8. ↑ Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum » Bob Brown
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