Baseball's Buster Brown: Iowa Time Machine February 9, 1914

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On February 9, 1914, Charles Edward "Buster" Brown died in Sioux City at age 32. The Iowa native holds the record for the lowest career winning percentage of any pitcher with a minimum of 150 decisions at .327, a record of 51 wins and 105 losses. Numbers tell one story about Brown's major league career, yet they cannot capture the promise of the young man from Boone who once threw no-hitters at Iowa State.

Born in Boone on August 31, 1881, Brown stayed close to home by attending Ames Agricultural College, now Iowa State University, where he went 14-0 as a sophomore. He pitched no-hitters against Coe College, striking out 16, and against Grinnell College with 14 strikeouts. Brown mixed baseball business with collegiate pleasure by playing university ball during school years and pro ball during summers, pitching for semipro Onawa in 1902, in the Three-I League for the 1903 Rock Rapids Islanders, and in the Western League for the 1904 Omaha Rangers.

The St. Louis Cardinals bought Brown from Omaha in the summer of 1904 and had high hopes for the young righty. He debuted on June 22, 1905, at age 23 and played his last game on April 26, 1913. Brown pitched for three teams during his career: the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Braves. His 9-6 record and 2.42 ERA in Philadelphia during 1907 would have served as personal bests if they could have stood apart from his subpar St. Louis statistics.

The Boston years brought continued struggle. Completing a four-year stretch in which he went just 25-64, Brown bottomed out in terms of winning percentage in 1912 by taking just four of 19 decisions, although for the only season in his career he struck out more batters than he walked. He earned his final win on September 14, 1912, in game two of a doubleheader against St. Louis, giving up only eight hits while leading both teams with three hits of his own, including two doubles, as Boston won 11-2. On May 1, 1913, Boston traded Brown and $4,000 to Toronto of the International League. #Iowa #OTD #History #Baseball #MajorLeagueBaseball