Tommy Brown

Thomas Michael Brown (December 6, 1927 – January 15, 2025), nicknamed "Buckshot", was an American professional baseball player. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers at 16 years and 241 days old, starting at shortstop at Ebbets Field against the Chicago Cubs, on August 3, 1944, during the World War II manpower shortage. Brown thus became the youngest non-pitcher to ever play in a major league game, and the second-youngest overall after Joe Nuxhall, who was 15 years and 316 days old when he first appeared as a hurler for the Cincinnati Reds on June 10, 1944. In Brown's debut game, he collected his first big-league hit, a double off the Cubs' Bob Chipman, and in the field handled three chances, with one error, as the Dodgers fell, 6–2.

On August 20, 1945, at 17 years and 257 days old, Brown became the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run, a record that still stands.

Background Thomas Michael Brown was born on December 6, 1927, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He dropped out of school when he was twelve years old and started working with his uncle, a dockworker.

Baseball career Brown signed with the Dodgers after a 1943 tryout and spent the first four months of the 1944 season with Newport News of the Class B Piedmont League; while there, Brown collected 101 hits and a league-leading 11 triples, and batted .297 before his recall to Brooklyn in August. He appeared in 46 games for the Dodgers through the end of that season.

The next season, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 20, 1945, Brown became the youngest player in MLB history to hit a home run, a record that still stands. He was 17 years and 257 days old at the time, and the solo home run was against Preacher Roe in the bottom of the 7th inning in what turned out to be a blowout 11–1 Pirates victory, with Brown's solo shot representing the Dodgers' only run of the game. Five days later, on August 25, 1945, Brown hit another home run, this time off of New York Giants pitcher Adrián Zabala in the first game of a doubleheader. His home run was once again in the bottom of the 7th inning, and once again it was a solo shot; however, the Dodgers were victorious in this contest, winning 8-6. At 17 years and 262 days old, Brown became the second youngest player to hit a home run, behind only himself five days earlier.

Brown spent 1946 in the United States Army, then in 1947, the second postwar season, returned to a Dodgers team with a set lineup that included Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese.

As a hitter, Brown batted over .300 twice in part-time duty (1949 and 1952). The Dodgers, however, lost the game, 9–7. He played minor league baseball through 1959, including with the Nashville Vols, before retiring.

Personal life and death Brown was married to his wife, Ellen, and had two children. At the time of his death, Brown was one of four major league players still living who played during the 1940s decade (the others being Bobby Shantz, Bill Greason, and Ron Teasley), and the last living player who played in the majors before the end of World War 2.