During his career, he was widely considered the best pitcher in the Negro leagues at the time, and led the Grays to eight pennants in one nine-year span.

Brown would fire the curveball at a batter no matter what the count was, having supreme confidence in that pitch.

After his long stint with the Grays, he opted to play in Mexico and in the Canadian Provincial League in his final years.

He also led the league in ERA twice (1938, 1940) along with three times in strikeouts (1931, 1937–38) among statistics that ranged from games played to innings.

The other four were Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige.