LARRY BROWN

One of the finest defensive catchers in baseball, black or white, was Larry "Ironman" Brown, who played with the Detroit Stars in 1926. Brown was a light hitter, with a lifetime .260 batting average, but an excellent handler of pitchers. He also had a powerful and accurate arm when it came to throwing out those attempting larceny on the basepaths. Legend has it that the light-skinned, Spanish-speaking, Alabama-born Brown so impressed certain major league representatives that they tried to talk Brown into passing as a Cuban, thus getting around the unwritten color barrier in the majors. According to reports, Brown refused, saying that if he couldn't go into the majors as Larry Brown, he wouldn't go at all.