Brooklyn Native Who Welcomed Jackie Robinson to Dodgers Dies: Report
Tommy Brown, a Brooklyn native who starred for the ‘Boys of Summer’-era Dodgers before going on to play for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, died Wednesday according to Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer.
The last living member of the 1947 Dodgers team that integrated Major League Baseball forever was 97.
Brooklyn Dodger Tommy “Buckshot” Brown died this morning, after contracting pneumonia while convalescing from a fall, his daughter told me. He was 97, the last living member of the 1947 Dodgers, and the #1 person in the world I wanted to interview. (He was pretty private.) RIP.🧵
— Ben Lindbergh (@BenLindbergh) January 15, 2025
According to Lindbergh, Brown contracted pneumonia while convalescing from a fall. He was the last link to the Dodgers team that made baseball history when Jackie Robinson became the first Black player to suit up for a National or American League team in the 20th century.
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Robinson joined a Dodgers club that went on a run of sustained success unprecedented in the franchise’s history. From 1900-46, the Dodgers won four National League pennants; over the next decade, they won six.
Brown was a role player who batted .237 with 15 home runs and 88 RBIs over parts of seven seasons with his hometown team, a tenure interrupted by World War II.
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According to Lindbergh, Brown was discharged from the Army in 1947, reported to the Dodgers’ spring training camp, and tried to learn first base after having played only shortstop and right field in his prewar tenure. When he did not win the job in camp, it went to Robinson.
Ultimately Brooklyn decided on a different first baseman that year: Jackie Robinson, who played all his games as a rookie at first, partly to prevent him from getting spiked on slides into second. So because Jackie debuted, Brown barely played that season.https://t.co/JRUhBAZjIv
— Ben Lindbergh (@BenLindbergh) January 15, 2025
“There was a little dissention when Jackie came into camp,” Brown recalled in an interview with SABRgraphs. “I don’t want to mention any names, but they got a petition against playing with Jackie. They came to me and said to sign it, but I never signed it. I don’t know how many signed, but several did. Jackie was a great ball player.”
Brooklyn traded Brown to the Philadelphia Phillies in June 1951, and he appeared in 96 games with the Phillies over the next two seasons. He finished his major league career in 1952-53 with the Cubs.
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Known for his strong throwing arm that earned him the nickname “Buckshot,” Brown retired with a career batting average of .241, 31 home runs, and 159 RBIs in nine major league seasons.
He played a few more years with the Dodgers, spent time with the Phillies and Cubs, and was done in the big leagues at 25. He worked in a Ford glass plant for 35 years. He’s survived by his wife, 4 children, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.https://t.co/MGSdpBXMK5
— Ben Lindbergh (@BenLindbergh) January 15, 2025
After his playing career ended, Brown worked in a Ford glass plant for 35 years, per Lindbergh. He is survived by his wife, four children, seven grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
According to Baseball Almanac, Brown was the seventh-oldest living major league player at the time of his death.
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