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Willard Brown

1915–1996

United States

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Biography

Willard Jessie Brown (June 26, 1915 – August 4, 1996) was an American professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in the Negro leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs and in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns, where he was one of the league's first African American players. Often called "Home Run Brown" for making history as the first Black ballplayer to hit a home run in the American League, Brown's other nicknames included "Sonny", due to his preference for crowded Sunday games, and "Ese Hombre" ("That Man"), due to his offensive dominance playing in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Sources & collection details

Wikipedia contributors — original record ↗

Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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