Raymond “Ray” Brown (1908-1965)

Side A: Raymond “Ray” Brown was a star in the Negro Leagues 1930-1948. Born in Alger on February 23, 1908, Brown graduated from Alger High School in 1926. He made his professional baseball debut playing for the Dayton Marcos in 1930. Brief stints with the Indianapolis ABCs and Detroit Wolves followed. In 1932, Brown joined Pittsburgh’s Homestead Grays mid-season and became a mainstay of their pitching staff for the next fourteen years. Utilizing a devastating curveball, he led the Grays to eight Negro National League pennants in a nine-year span (1937-1945). In 1938, he won the pitching triple crown and lead the league in wins, earned run average, and strikeouts. When the Negro League World Series was re-instituted in 1942, Brown’s team competed four straight years, winning twice. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) Brown threw a one-hit shutout in Game 3 of the 1944 World Series against the Birmingham Black Barons and, in 1945, tossed a seven-inning perfect game against the Chicago American Giants. To boost his income, Brown barnstormed in American cities and played winter leagues in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Venezuela. He played four seasons in the Mexican (1946-1949) and the Canadian Provincial (1950-1953) leagues. He was 45 when he pitched his last game. Brown moved to Dayton in 1958 and worked for the Standard Biscuit Company until his death on February 8, 1965. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Dayton’s Greencastle Cemetery. Posthumously, Brown received many honors, including induction into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 and Cooperstown’s National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.