Brown (February 1, 1858 – January 15, 1889) was an American Major League Baseball catcher and first baseman for seven seasons and played for six different teams from 1876 to 1884.

Two of his early teams - the 1877 Boston Red Caps and the 1879 Providence Grays - won league pennants.

By 1887, he was working as a bartender at the Saracen's Head, a Boston saloon run by the widow of boxer Joe Goss.

He played in a benefit game that year with other retired players at the South End Grounds, and he had gained a surprising amount of weight since leaving baseball.

She became angry and swung at the men with a piece of gas pipe, striking Brown in the knee.