| Lew Brown | |
| Position: | Catcher/First baseman |
| Bats: | Right |
| Throws: | Right |
| Birth Date: | February 1, 1858 |
| Birth Place: | Leominster, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Debutleague: | MLB |
| Debutdate: | June 17 |
| Debutyear: | 1876 |
| Debutteam: | Boston Red Caps |
| Finalleague: | MLB |
| Finaldate: | October 19 |
| Finalyear: | 1884 |
| Finalteam: | Boston Reds |
| Statleague: | MLB |
| Stat1label: | Batting average |
| Stat1value: | .248 |
| Stat2label: | Home runs |
| Stat2value: | 10 |
| Stat3label: | Runs batted in |
| Stat3value: | 169 |
| Teams: |
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Lewis J. Brown (February 1, 1858 – January 15, 1889) was an American Major League Baseball catcher and first baseman for seven seasons and played for six different teams from 1876 to 1884. Brown was primarily a catcher, but he also logged over 100 games as a first baseman. He also appeared twice as a pitcher.
Before playing in the major leagues, Brown was a member of the Boston Stars, a popular amateur team that played at Boston Common. He was teammates on that club with future major league player John Morrill.[1]
In 1876, Brown debuted in the major leagues. Two of his early teams - the 1877 Boston Red Caps and the 1879 Providence Grays - won league pennants.[1] Brown missed the season due to being blacklisted for "confirmed dissipation and general insubordination."[2] He retired from baseball after the 1884 season.
By 1887, he was working as a bartender at the Saracen's Head, a Boston saloon run by the widow of boxer Joe Goss. He played in a benefit game that year with other retired players at the South End Grounds, and he had gained a surprising amount of weight since leaving baseball.[3] By July 1888, Brown said that he had reduced his weight to 214 pounds and that he was hoping to play baseball again.[4]
In 1889, Brown died at the Boston City Hospital at the age of 30. The Chicago Tribune explained further: One night at the Saracen's Head, Brown was engaged in a friendly wrestling match with a customer, and the men did not stop wrestling when Mrs. Goss asked them to do so. She became angry and swung at the men with a piece of gas pipe, striking Brown in the knee. The injury led to the amputation of Brown's leg, and he was said to have been left in a weak and delirious state. He died of pneumonia during that hospitalization.[5]
Brown is interred at Forest Hills Cemetery.[6]