Alton Brown

From BR Bullpen

Alton Leo Brown (Deacon)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 195 lb.

Debut April 21, 1951
Final Game May 27, 1951
Born April 16, 1925 in Norfolk, VA USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Alton Brown was a right-hand pitcher who never played organized baseball at any level until he was with an Army team during World War II. He started out pitching at the lowest level of the minor leagues in the class D Coastal Plain League with the Roanoke Rapids Jays in 1948. Alton was in the league for three seasons, going 8-12 in his first year, then 16-12 in his second and impressed everyone with a 28 win, 11 loss year with 204 league-leading strikeouts to lead Roanoke to the league championship as Alton claimed the MVP award in 1950.

Brown was signed by the Washington Senators in December of 1950 and the following spring he made the long jump to a spot in the Washington bullpen to start the 1951 season. He made it into seven games with no decisions before returning to the minors and the Chattanooga Lookouts where he finished out 1951 with a 5-8 record. This season was to be Alton's only shot at the majors in a nine year pro baseball career.

Alton spent the next five years in several class AA and B leagues, with the likes of the Richmond Colts, Norfolk Tars and Shreveport Sports before he finished up his career with the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League in 1956.

In 1955, Brown took a try at managing his hometown team, the Norfolk Tars. He was the second of three to try, but the team disbanded on July 14, being last in the league as well as the same in attendance.

Alton had been in pro ball from 1946 through 1956 and was active nine years. His record shows he appeared in 320 outings, winning 109 and losing 76 while pitching 1,616 innings, giving up 1,531 base hits and 757 base on balls for a 3.49 ERA.

After baseball was over Alton said "Like most players I had hopes and dreams of a long major league career. That didn't happen, but I still enjoyed my years in baseball. I made some wonderful friendships. I was the teammate of Brooks Robinson when he was on his way up. We became good friends and still keep in touch."

Alton worked for 20 years as a crew foreman on the Norfolk waterfront before being disabled after suffering injuries in a fall onto a barge. He is now retired and of this writing (Dec. 2008) lives in Virginia Beach, VA.