Home US Tommy Brown, the last living member of the historic 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, dies at age 97

Tommy Brown, the last living member of the historic 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, dies at age 97

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Tommy Brown, the last living member of the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, has died at the age of 97

Tommy Brown, a career utility player and the last living member of the color barrier-breaking 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, has died at the age of 97.

Brown died Wednesday at a rehabilitation center in the Orlando, Florida, suburb of Altamonte Springs. He was there after breaking his hip and arm in a fall.

His eldest daughter, Paula Brown Caplice, confirmed the news to the Associated Press, saying: “He had a nice life and he loved his sport.”

Brown was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in 1927. He tried out for his hometown Dodgers in 1943.

After playing in the minors for the first four months of the 1944 season in Newport News, Virginia, he made his Major League debut with the Dodgers on August 3, 1944 against the Chicago Cubs at his home stadium, Ebbets Field. He doubled in his debut for his first Major League hit.

At the time, he was the youngest non-pitcher to ever play in a Major League game and the second-youngest player ever after left-handed pitcher Joe Nuxhall made his debut that same year at the age of 15.

Tommy Brown, the last living member of the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, has died at the age of 97

Brown (fourth from left in top row) was part of the team that broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947 when the Dodgers promoted Jackie Robinson (second right, third row)

Brown (fourth from left in top row) was part of the team that broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 when the Dodgers promoted Jackie Robinson (second right, third row)

1737092085 65 Tommy Brown the last living member of the historic 1947

Just over a year after his debut on August 20, 1945, Brown hit a home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Preacher Roe, setting the MLB record for the youngest player to ever hit a home run at the age of 17 years and 257 days old . . The record still stands.

Brown Caplice told the AP that she would call her father every year on August 20 to ask him what happened that same day.

“He said, ‘Ah, yeah, I hit my first home run,’” she said. “The Dodgers signed Preacher Roe a few years later. My dad joked that his home run skills declined when Preacher Roe signed. They have become good friends.’

After serving in the U.S. Army in 1946, he returned to Brooklyn to play in the 1947 season.

That year, Brooklyn general manager Branch Rickey promoted first baseman Jackie Robinson to the team, becoming the first black player in Major League Baseball history.

The addition of Robinson to the squad was a controversial decision among some in the clubhouse, with a petition being circulated by several white players on the team to protest the promotion of a black player.

“He said, ‘I’m not signing anything like that,’” Brown Caplice said. “I thought that was quite exaggerated for a 20-year-old at a club with a lot of older players trying to bully. That told me who he really was.”

Brown Caplice added that her mother, Ann, befriended Robinson’s wife, Rachel.

1737092085 521 Tommy Brown the last living member of the historic 1947

1737092086 38 Tommy Brown the last living member of the historic 1947

1947 marked Brown’s first appearance in a World Series. The Dodgers lost to the crosstown rival New York Yankees in seven games. He would play another World Series with the Dodgers in 1949, losing again to the Yankees, this time in five games.

Brown continued to play for his hometown team until the Dodgers traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1951. After that year, Philadelphia sold his contract to the Cubs.

By 1953, Brown’s days in the majors were over. He was only 25 years old when he made his last MLB appearance. Brown finished his time at the top of the baseball world as a career .241 hitter with 31 home runs and 159 RBIs.

He would continue to play baseball in the minor leagues until 1959 before retiring. He then moved to Tennessee, where he worked at a Ford factory until retiring in 1993.

Brown is survived by Paula, as well as his daughters Michele and Pamela and a son, Bill.

Now that Brown has passed away, only one MLB player from the 1940s is still alive: Bobby Shantz, a pitcher who started his career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1949.

Not only was Brown the last member of that memorable Dodgers team, he was also the last living player to ever take the field in the middle of World War II.

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