American baseball executive (1918?2010)
Joe L. Brown
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/92/Joe_L._Brown.jpg/250px-Joe_L._Brown.jpg) Brown in 2010
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Born
| (
1918-09-01
)
September 1, 1918
New York City, U.S.
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Died
| August 15, 2010
(2010-08-15)
(aged 91)
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Occupation
| Baseball executive
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Years active
| 1939?1976; 1985
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Joe LeRoy Brown
(September 1, 1918 ? August 15, 2010)
[1]
was an American front office executive in
Major League Baseball
.
Brown served as the
general manager
of the
Pittsburgh Pirates
from November 1,
1955
, through the end of the
1976
season.
[2]
Under his administration, the Pirates recovered from four consecutive last-place finishes in the
National League
to world championships in
1960
and
1971
. Led by the great
Baseball Hall of Fame
players
Roberto Clemente
,
Bill Mazeroski
and
Willie Stargell
, the Bucs became consistent contenders for much of Brown's 21-year tenure, finishing in the
first division
six times between 1956 and 1968, and capturing five
National League East Division
titles from 1969 through 1976.
Early life
[
edit
]
Brown was a native of
New York
, but grew up in
Southern California
. The son of actor-comedian
Joe E. Brown
(
Some Like It Hot
)
, he inherited his father's passion for baseball. Brown first met
Branch Rickey
, his predecessor in Pittsburgh, when Brown was 16 years of age, in 1935. He entered
minor league baseball
after his graduation from
UCLA
in
1939
as a front-office official with the
Lubbock
Hubbers
of the Class D
West Texas?New Mexico League
. He served in the
United States Army Air Forces
during the World War II era, then joined the administrative staff of the
Hollywood Stars
of the
Triple-A
Pacific Coast League
in
1946
.
Pittsburgh Pirates
[
edit
]
Brown came to the Pittsburgh organization in
1950
as business manager of their
Waco Pirates
farm team
in the Class B
Big State League
, then their
New Orleans Pelicans
club in the
Double-A
Southern Association
. He joined the Pittsburgh front office in 1955, reunited with Rickey, who was in his final season as general manager.
[3]
When Rickey, 73, retired to become the club's board chairman at the close of the 1955 campaign, Brown was the unanimous choice of that board (which also included part-owner
Bing Crosby
, the entertainer) to succeed him. Brown's first order of business was to find a successor to fired
skipper
Fred Haney
. While his first choice,
Bobby Bragan
, was a misfire, Brown struck gold in August
1957
when he replaced Bragan with
Danny Murtaugh
, a former Pirate
second baseman
then in his second season as a
coach
. Under Murtaugh, the Bucs became contenders in
1958
, finishing in second place, won the
1960
and
1971 World Series
, and three more NL East titles (1970; 1974?75). Although he twice was compelled to step down for health reasons, Murtaugh would serve four separate terms as Brown's field manager (1957?64; 1967; 1970?71; 1973?76), and compile a 1,115?950 (
.540
) record. Two months after Brown's and Murtaugh's joint retirement at the conclusion of the
1976
campaign, Murtaugh suffered a fatal
stroke
at age 59.
Legacy
[
edit
]
Brown maintained and built upon the strong
scouting
and player development system created during Rickey's term as the Bucs' general manager. He also swung multiple shrewd trades, acquiring players such as
Harvey Haddix
,
Smoky Burgess
,
Bill Virdon
,
Don Hoak
,
Hal Smith
and
Vinegar Bend Mizell
, who would play key roles in Pittsburgh's 1960 championship. His 1971 club was almost exclusively produced from the Pirates' strong farm system, which mined talent from the Caribbean and Latin America. Brown would frequently accompany fabled scout
Howie Haak
on Haak's trips to Latin America.
Retirement
[
edit
]
Brown remained in the Pirates organization as a
Southern California
-based
scout
. He came out of semi-retirement as executive vice president and general manager again on May 23, 1985 when he replaced
Harding Peterson
who had succeeded him after the
1976 season
.
[4]
At the time, the ball club was rocked by a
drug scandal
, poor play, falling attendance and was on the verge of being sold by the
John W. Galbreath
family to a local consortium. Brown returned to semi-retirement upon the appointment of
Syd Thrift
as his successor
5
+
1
⁄
2
months later on November 7.
[5]
He died on August 15, 2010, in
Albuquerque, New Mexico
at age 91.
[1]
He was survived by his son Don and daughter Cynthia.
References
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Other
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