Remembered by Few, Respected by Less

Name: Kevin Brown

Card Company: Donruss

Year: 1989

Team: Texas Rangers

Bats/Throws: R

Ht: 6'4

Kevin Brown is one of the best kept secrets when it comes to pitching, so well kept in fact that even the BBWAA forgot to make him a hall of famer. A pitcher that relied on velocity and control, Kevin Brown in his prime was one of the best 5 pitchers in baseball. But, he was not without his issues, something we will get into later. But, when he was on he was on, and more times than not Kevin Brown was one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Kevin Brown was selected with the 4th overall pick by the Texas Rangers in the 1986 MLB Draft, eventually signing with the team in mid-July. As the Rangers were famous for doing they rushed him up to the major leagues regardless if he was ready or not. He would only appear in one MLB game in 1986, picking up his first victory in a 9-5 win over Oakland. The plan in 1987 was to start him in the minors then quickly bring him up, but that plan would quickly fall apart. At one point losing 11 straight games Brown would never make it out of the minors, and was considered a bust by the Texas media. In 1988, Brown would figure it out in the minors posting a 12–10 record with a 3.51 ERA in 26 starts and was a member of the Texas League All-Star team. He would then make his return to the big leagues on September 14th, besting Oakland in a 9-1 complete game victory.

In 1989, he impressed so much in Spring Training that he earned a spot in the Rangers rotation. Brown was impressive in his rookie season finishing the year with a 12-9 record with a 3.35 ERA. It was this season however that the baseball world would be introduced to his short-fuse temper. In his time with the Rangers he would smash himself over the head with a metal plate from the bottom of a laundry basket, kick out a window pane, and throw a chair through a window at Kauffman Stadium. Brown was also known as a bit of a hard head and a constant warrior of the players union, something that didn’t endear him to ownership. And amazingly after he won his arbitration dispute with the Rangers in 1992 he had one of his best seasons ever. He finished that year with a 21–11 with a 3.32 ERA while leading the league with 265 innings pitched, while making his first All-Star team. He would be solid next year with the Rangers, but perhaps distracted by the upcoming 1994 players strike he would finish the 94’ season with a mediocre 4.82 ERA.

A year after the strike shortened season Brown was able to sign a one year contract with the Baltimore Orioles worth $4.2 million. He would proceed to bounce back with a 10-9 record with a 3.60 ERA before heading back to free agency the following year. In the off-season, he would sign with the 3-year old Florida Marlins franchise. And with the Florida Marlins he would go on to have the best years of his career.

In his first season with the Marlins, Brown would have the best season of his career finishing with a 17-11 record to go along with a league best 1.89 ERA. In that season, he would finish 2nd in Cy Young voting, finishing behind John Smoltz of the Braves. While he wasn’t as dominate in the 1997 season, it didn’t matter as the Florida Marlins would go on to win their first ever World Series. In that championship season Brown would finish with a 16-8 record and a 2.69 ERA, en route to another All-Star selection. Also during his tenure with the Marlins, he would throw the only no-hitter of his career, allowing only one base-runner vs the Giants. But as the Marlins fans can attest to the glory didn’t last long. After they won the World Series, Marlins ownership had a massive fire sale that included their ace Kevin Brown who they traded to the Padres for Derrek Lee.

In his one season with the San Diego Padres Brown would quickly establish himself as the ace of the rotation. He would finish the 1998 campaign with a 18-7 record a 2.38 ERA, and would finish 3rd in that years Cy Young voting. That season would also see the Padres make the World Series, with Kevin Brown besting Randy Johnson in a 2-1 pitchers duel in the NLDS finishing with 16 strikeouts. Unfortunately, they ran into the buzzsaw that was the New York Yankees in the World Series and lost in 4 games. And once again Brown became a free-agent after again only spending one year with a team.

Now while owners may hate the agent known as Scott Boras the players love him, because of deals like this. In the 1998 winter meetings, Scott Boras managed to get the Dodgers to agree to a 7-year $105 million for the 33-year-old Kevin Brown. For those of you that don’t know signing a pitcher to a contract that will expire when he’s 40 is a bad idea. The Dodgers also threw in 12 round trips a year on a private jet for Brown’s family to sweeten the deal. In short, the Dodgers made Brown an offer he couldn’t refuse.

His career with the Dodgers started out promising enough, finishing his first year with a 18-9 record and a 3.00 ERA finishing 6th in the Cy Young voting. And in 2000 he would lead the NL in ERA with a 2.58 to go along with a 13-6 record. However, the next two seasons would see him struggle with shoulder injuries that would foreshadow the end of his career. It didn’t matter that in 2004 he bounced back again with a 14-9 record while posting a 2.39 ERA and made the All-Star team, the Dodgers would eventually trade him to the Yankees for Jeff Weaver. Both Weaver and Brown would go on to have disappointing runs with their new clubs, and Brown was out of baseball after the 2005 season.

Brown finished his 19-year career with what should’ve been a hall of fame resume. And if you do the Catfish Hunter 15-year comparison, without a doubt he should make it in. For those of you that don’t know what the Catfish Hunter 15-year comparison is read my piece about Luis Tiant titled “El Tiante”. But, his stats I’m afraid wouldn’t be the thing that would keep him out of the hall, no it would be something much worse than that. Kevin Brown has been blackballed from the Hall of Fame for “Possible PED Usage”. Even though he never failed a drug test in his career, he was linked to the

Mitchell Report in 2007 so that gives the BBWAA enough reason to blackball him. The BBWAA has done this as well for Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds who like Brown never failed a drug test, and if Bonds and Clemens ain’t getting in then Brown had no shot. Sadly, I don’t see this situation changing until the BBWAA is cleansed and takes away votes from those that don’t deserve them. A great place to start would be to strip votes from those that didn’t vote for the likes of Ken Griffey Jr and or Randy Johnson and anybody else who puts personal agendas over voting for the right people.

For all his faults Kevin Brown was a great pitcher, and it’s a shame that the most remembered part of his career was the Dodgers giving him an albatross of a contract. Kevin Brown may have never been the best, but he was certainly among the best in what was a golden age for pitching.

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