Earl James Browne (March 5, 1911 – January 12, 1993) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, he threw and batted left-handed, stood tall and weighed . He was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, and attended Manual High School in that city. Browne spent one full season and parts of three others in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

between 1935 and 1938, toiling for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies. During his full season, spent with the 1937 Phillies, Browne appeared in 102 games, with 97 hits in 322

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

for a .294

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, including six home runs and 52

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

. Overall, he batted .284 with six homers and 69 RBI in 143 MLB games. Browne also had a 22-year career in minor league baseball as a southpaw

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, outfielder and first baseman. He batted .304 in 2,167 minor league games, with 183 home runs and 1,301 RBI, and twice batted over .400 as a playing manager in the Class D

KITTY League Kitty or Kittie may refer to: Animals * Cat, a small, domesticated carnivorous mammal ** Kitten, a young cat Film * Kitty Films, an anime production company in Japan * ''Kitty'' (1929 film), based on the Deeping novel; the first British talk ...

(1946–1947) as skipper of the Owensboro Oilers, a Boston Braves

farm club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. He compiled a 51–42 won/lost mark in six years as a minor league pitcher.Baseball Reference
/ref> He died in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated in ...

, at the age of 81.

References

External links

Career statistics, from Baseball Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Earl 1911 births 1993 deaths Asheville Tourists players Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Louisville, Kentucky Chattanooga Lookouts players Columbus Red Birds players Dayton Aviators players Hartford Chiefs players Huntington Boosters players Knoxville Smokies players Little Rock Travelers players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Mobile Marines players New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Owensboro Oilers players Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players