Brown, whose real name is Irvin, completed his 38th season with the 42-year-old American Legion program. He picked up his 2,000th career win (2,011-980 in high school and Legion) in Post 43’s district tournament victory over rival Piqua Post 184.
The season is over — Post 43 went 45-15 and reached the quarterfinals of the NABF World Series for its best finish ever — but there’s no offseason anymore. To have fun in the spring and summer, there has to be fundraising in the fall and winter.
Brown hosts Troy Post 43’s first golf scramble at Cliffside Golf Course in Tipp City on Oct. 11 and registration for his fall hitting league at Duke Park in Troy is under way (troypost43 americanlegionbaseball.com).
In his words
“The (hitting league)
came about because I wasn’t seeing kids playing in the corner lot or down at a ball field on their own. You just don’t see it.
"There are not as many Legion teams. But there are a whole raft of what everyone calls select ball with 9- and 10-year-olds. ... I think some of it might be burnout. I'm hearing these horror stories about the youth league teams playing 75 ball games. We play 60 because that's what the college guys play. I think our role is to prepare guys to play in college. But I don't think the role of an 11-year-old team is to prepare them for college.
"I was born with really tight, curly blond hair. Big ringlets. My dad saw that and said it looked like I had frost on my head. That's stuck with me for 62 years.
"Pete Rose was watching Petey Jr. play (in 1985) ... and we used a trick pick-off play he had never seen before. ... Pete came over to the fence and said, 'Well I owe you something.' He gave me some hitting advice. We had a nice two innings of conversation about why he wanted to be a coach like me. I told him, 'That's funny because I spent a lot of time trying to be somebody like you as a hitter.'
"My wife (Connie) and I like to travel. ... We've made trips to Alaska and taken cruises. We've hit the Caribbean islands pretty hard. We love the Grand Cayman Islands. We went to Italy for 14 days a couple years ago and saw the Vatican, Milan and Pompeii. It was a learning experience.
"We're closing in on about 350 players who have gone on to college. Matt (Bashore) was our 42nd player to sign professionally.
"That's one of the things I tell the guys. They need to think about giving back. Once they get older they can stay in the game and coach little guys or high school. If they don't want to do that, try umpiring. There are a lot of ways to stay in baseball later on."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2400, ext. 6991 or gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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