Patricia Brown

Patricia Irene Brown (April 23, 1931 – June 17, 2012) was a pitcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5' 5", 135 lb., she batted and threw right handed.

Like many players, Pat Brown had a brief career in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because she felt that the schedule was demanding and the continuing trips interfered with her studies. She then went on to obtain four degrees and be listed in four different Who's Who directories for her accomplishments during a law librarian career that spanned forty years of dedicated service to Suffolk University in Boston.

Born in Winthrop, Massachusetts, Patricia was the youngest of four children in the family of Joseph and Harriet (née Taylor) Brown. While growing up, she had two dreams: to play baseball and to attend college. She was told she could not play baseball because she was a girl and could not attend college because she had no money. Nevertheless, she achieved both of these dreams.

She collected a 9-9 pitching record for the Colleens, while posting a .298 batting average and a .394 on-base percentage in 23 games. Her stint with the Belles was limited to two innings of shutout ball in one pitching appearance.

Brown attended Suffolk University during the off-season, but when the college would not release her early in order to play and the league would not allow her to report late in the season, she opted to quit baseball and decided to concentrate on her studies.

Besides this, Brown received numerous awards and recognitions over the years. She appears listed in the Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law, Who's Who in the East, and Who's Who of American Women directories.

In February 1990, the Women's Sports Foundation presented her with an award For Outstanding Service in Women's Sports, during the governor's annual Massachusetts Women in Sports Day at the State House in Boston. She also was honored at the dedication of the Suffolk University girls' basketball team first home game in their new gym in February 1991, and was inducted in the First Annual Winthrop High School Hall of Fame in March 1997.

By 1993, she spent over a year working with the New England Sports Museum to organize an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League display. She formed a working group that included former AAGPBL players Wilma Briggs and Marie Mansfield, as well as the aforementioned Maddy English, Mary Pratt and herself, of course. The finished exhibition contains assorted pictures, an original contract, and baseball spikes, gloves and uniforms, among other memorabilia.

She wrote A League Of My Own: Memoir of a Pitcher for the All-American Girls, which was published by McFarland & Company, in 2003. In her book, she shares her thoughts on the league's history, including what Philip K. Wrigley sought to do by creating the AAGPBL in 1943, what happened after that, and why the league folded after its twelve years of existence. I feel like I have finally pitched my no-hit game, she commented about her book.

Patricia Brown died in Park Ridge, Illinois, at the age of 81.