”His big league statistics – 21 games, a .179 batting average – tell the most incomplete story possible of the player who was Willard Brown. His Hall of Fame plaque, however, speaks volumes about the pioneer who was one of the Negro leagues’ greatest power hitters.“He was the most natural ballplayer I ever saw,” said Negro leagues legend Buck O’Neil. “He’d steal second base standing up. He was a great talent.”

He would pass away in 1996 pretty much forgotten except for the resurgence of Negro League reunions. He was posthumously elected to the Baseball HOF in 2006.

Offered is a late ‘40s album page signed by Brown in pencil (most likely in 1947 when he was with the Browns). On the opposite side, it has been signed in pencil by Ferris Fain (D. 2001), who was a big league pitcher that played in 5 All-Star games. In 1947, Fain was playing in his rookie year for the Philadelphia Athletics.

Nice piece that doesn’t come up too often and rarely derive from his playing days!

Letter of Authenticity from Richard Albersheim.

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