Former Major League Baseball shortstop Tommy Brown of Brooklyn, New York passed away on Wednesday at the age of 97 according to Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumours. Brown holds the distinctions of being the youngest player ever to hit a home run, and one of the youngest position players ever to play a MLB game.
Who did Brown play for?
Brown played nine seasons of Major League Baseball. He was with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1944 to 1951. He then played two seasons each with the Philadelphia Phillies (1951 and 1952), and with the Chicago Cubs (1952 and 1953). Brown missed the 1946 MLB season as he enlisted in the American army. This came one year after WWII.
Making MLB history
At the age of 17 years and 257 days, Brown hit his first Major League Baseball home run, and was the youngest player ever to accomplish the feat. Brown scored the only run for the Dodgers on August 20, 1945 in an 11-1 Dodgers loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A year earlier, at the age of 16 years and 241 days old, Brown was originally the youngest position player to ever play a MLB game. The Dodgers lost 6-2 to the Chicago Cubs at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. The original youngest player according to the Baseball Almanac was Joe Nuxhall of Hamilton, Ohio, who was 15 years and 316 days old when he pitched for the Cincinnati Reds on June 10, 1944. However, when the Negro League statistics were included in MLB all-time statistics, it was determined that Washington Elite Giants catcher Roy Campanella of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was actually the youngest at 15 years and 215 days old.
Brown’s MLB career statistics
Brown batted .241 with 31 home runs and 159 runs batted in. During 494 games, 1280 at bats and 1387 plate appearances, he scored 151 runs and had 309 hits, 39 doubles, seven triples, seven stolen bases, 85 walks, 455 total bases, and 13 sacrifice bunts with an on base percentage of .292 and a slugging percentage of .355.
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