(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
IN MEMORIAM
...Tom Browning...
(1960 - 2022) |
 Cincinnati Reds pitching-great and Hall of Famer Tom Browning passed away
Nederlands
 UNION, Kentucky (USA) -
Former Major League-pitcher Tom Browning, who threw the only Perfect Game in Cincinnati Reds-history, unexpectedly passed away on Monday (December 19) at age 62.
It was reported that the pitcher was found unconscious at his home in Union, which is located some 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The lefthander played in twelve Major League-seasons (1984-1995).
After having pitched for Cincinnati Reds in eleven seasons, Browning closed his career on the mound for Kansas City Royals.
Thomas Leo (Tom) Browning was born on April 28, 1960 in Casper, Wyoming.
After a college-career at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York and Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee, Browning was drafted by Cincinnati Reds in 1982.
Shortly thereafter, the pitcher signed a professional contract and made his debut in the Rookie League-team of Cincinnati, Billings Mustangs.
At the end of his first season, Browning led the Pioneer League in strikeouts (87) and innings pitched (88).
Browning promoted the next season and then played in Single-A and Double-A.
Combined, he was 12-11 and struckout 202 batters in 196 innings pitched.
In the meantime, the lefthander had developed a very effective screwball.
Another promotion followed in 1984 when he started the season at the Triple-A level.
He then pitched in 30 games (28 starts) for Wichita Aeros and was 12-10.
While pitching for the Triple-A team, Browning threw a No-Hitter.
His solid pitching accomplishments led to a Major League-debut in September of the 1984 season, only two years after having turned professional.
After the Major League-rosters were expanded from 25 to 40 players per September 1, Browning was added to the Cincinnati-team, which then was managed by legendary Pete Rose, who is the all-time Major League basehit-leader.
At that moment, Rose was playing manager, which he was through 1986.
Thereafter, he solely was Manager from 1987 on, until August 1989 when he stepped down amidst an investigation whether or not he had bet on baseball-games.
Browning made his debut on September 9, starting against Los Angeles Dodgers, where Orel Hershiser was the starting pitcher.
Cincinnati won with a 5-1 score, Browning was the winning pitcher, Hershiser the loser.
Browning threw eight scoreless innings, but then got some baserunners in the bottom of the ninth inning.
With one out, Candy Maldonado and Steve Yeager both singled, followed by a runscoring single by Greg Brock, which led to the lone run given up by Browning.
Hereafter, Ted Power took over from Browning, got a foul pop-fly and a grounder to end the at bat and earn a save.
In his Major League-debut, Browning struckout four batters, including the very first he faced, Dave Anderson.
Following his debut, the lefthander started two more games, but then had no-decisions.
From 1985 on, Tom Browning belonged to the starting pitching rotation of Cincinnati Reds.
He became a workhorse and pitched in 35 or more games almost each season from 1985 through 1991, topped by 39 starts in 1986.
The lone exception was 1987, when he was on the mound in 32 games.
In this seven-year span, Browning pitched in 253 games, 252 of them as starter.
Browning led the National League in Games Started in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990.
In 1989, he led the entire Major League in starts with 37.
In his rookie-season (1985), Tom Browning won 20 games and lost only nine, finishing with a 3.55 ERA.
He started 38 games and struckout 155 batters in 261 1/3 inning.
By winning 20 games, Browning became the first rookie to accomplish this feat since Bob Grim (New York Yankees) in 1954.
Browning won eleven games in a row and finished in second place for the Rookie of the Year Award in the National League, which was won by Vince Coleman (St. Louis Cardinals).
The wins, innings pitched and strikeouts all would remain career-highs.
From 1985 on, Browning won ten or more games each of the seven seasons through 1991, in six of them, he won fourteen or more.
After his career-high of twenty in 1985, Browning won eighteen in 1988.
However, Browning also gave up a lot of homeruns.
In the same seven-year, the lefthander gave up 205, including Major League-leading totals in 1988, 1989 and 1991.
Despite the homerun-totals, Browning was a solid pitcher, with the already mentioned screwball being one of his most effective pitches.
He struckout far more batters then he walked them.
In the 1985-1991 span, he struckout 875 batters and walked 440.
1988 was one of the best seasons in Browning's career.
He was 18-5 with a 3.41 ERA and struckout 124 batters.
This also was the season when he threw a Perfect Game and even had a chance to throw two No-Hitters in the same season.
On June 6 of the 1988 season, Browning came very close to the first No-Hitter.
In an away-game at San Diego Padres, Cincinnati led 12-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Browning had thrown eight hitless innings and got a grounder from lead-off hitter Roberto Alomar in the ninth, meaning he was only two outs away from a piece of history.
But then, Tony Gwynn hit the ball into leftfield for single.
At that moment, Gwynn was in his seventh season of what would be an illustrous career.
In his long 20-year career (1982-2001, all with San Diego), Gwynn has been one of the best hitters in baseball, being the leading hitter in the National League eight times.
Unfortunately, 'Mr. Padre' passed away in 2014 at age 54 of salivary gland cancer.
Gwynn was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.
From 2003-2014, Gwynn was the Head Coach of the baseball-team of San Diego State University.
Three months later, on September 16, 1988, Browning started for Cincinnati at home against Los Angeles Dodgers.
He then not only held Los Angeles hitless, but also allowed no one to reach base to throw the twelfth Perfect Game in Major League-history.
Coincidentally, it was a pitcher of the Dodgers who was the last lefthander to throw a Perfect Game.
That was legendary Sandy Koufax, who accompished the feat in 1965 against Chicago Cubs.
Back then, it was the fourth No-Hitter in Koufax's career.
Cincinnati won the game only 1-0 at Riverfront Stadium, which started almost 2½ hour later due to a rain-delay.
The lone run was scored in the sixth inning off of Dodger-starter Tim Belcher, who at that moment also had not given up basehit.
With two outs in the sixth, Barry Larkin doubled, then Chris Sabo singled, which was followed by an error, enabling Larkin to score.
...Final out of Tom Browning's Perfect Game in 1988...
(© Video: MLB Film) |
Browning struckout seven batters in the historic game, including John Shelby three times.
In the top of the seventh inning, Browning struckout Kirk Gibson for the second time.
Gibson didn't like the strikeout-call, argued and was ejected.
A flyout and groundout led to the first two outs in the ninth inning.
Hereafter, Browning struckout pinch-hitter Tracy Woodson to end the game.
Paul O'Neill, who is the current color commentator/analyst for New York Yankees, was the first baseman for Cincinnati in this game.
Jeff Reed was the catcher.
This still is the only Perfect Game in Cincinnati Reds-history.
However, the first one was almost recorded earlier in the 1988 season.
On May 2, Rob Robinson was on the mound for Cincinnati against Montreal Expos and retired 26 batters in a row.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Robinson came to a full count on pinch-hitter Wallace Johnson, who then hit a single, which broke both the Perfect Game and No-Hitter.
Moments later, Robinson also lost his shutout, as next batter Tim Raines homered, but he would become the winning pitcher, as Cincinnati won 3-2.
The following season, on July 4, 1989, Browning came close to another Perfect Game.
This time, he started against Philadelphia Phillies in an away-game.
After having retired 24 consecutive batters and with a 2-0 lead, Browning gave up a lead-off double in the bottom of the ninth to Dickie Thon.
Browing struckout the next batter, but then gave up a runscoring single to pinch-hitter Steve Jeltz.
Hereafter, Browning was relieved by John Franco, who got a game-ending double play-grounder from Lenny Dykstra.
In the 1990 season, Lou Piniella took over as Manager of Cincinnati.
Browning was 15-9 with a 3.80 ERA for Cincinnati, which ended up in first place of what then was the National League West Division.
The team defeated Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 in the National League Championship Series to advance to the World Series.
In the Championship Final, Cincinnati swept favorite Oakland Athletics in four games to become the Major League-champion.
Cincinnati shutout Oakland 7-0 in the opener, then won 5-4 in ten games in the second game.
During the second game, Browning's wife went into labor.
The pitcher left the stadium to be with her, without notifying Manager Lou Piniella.
However, when the game went into extra innings, the Reds-Radio/TV-announcers were given a message asking Browning to return to the stadium, as he might have to pitch in case the game needed more innings.
It was reported that Browning had heard the message, but he stayed with his wife.
Two days later, in Game 3, played in Oakland, Tom Browning was the starter for Cincinnati, which won 8-3.
Cincinnati then won the fourth game with a 2-1 score against Oakland, which was led by Manager Tony La Russa.
In 2021, after ten years, La Russa came out of retirement to become the Manager of Chicago White Sox.
But in early October of this year, the 77-year old La Russa announced his retirement after having left the team on August 31 due to health issues.
...Davey Johnson as Manager of Team USA...
...with Robert Eenhoorn, Manager of the...
...Netherlands during the 2008...
...Olympic Games in Beijing (China)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
From 1991 on, Browning was bothered with some injuries.
He pitched in 36 games in 1991, was 14-14 with a 4.18 ERA and 115 strikeouts and was chosen to pitch in the All Star Game.
But in 1992, Browning pitched in 16 games (all starts) and was 6-5 with a 5.07 ERA.
The following season, he threw in 21 games and was 7-7.
Browning was known for making several pranks on his teammates.
One of the most legendary, which was also shown on television, came in July of the 1993 season.
During an away-game against Chicago Cubs, Browning left the dug-out and Wrigley Field.
He then suddenly showed up (in full uniform) between fans on a rooftop stands, which is located on a roof of a building outside the stadium, behind centerfield.
The prank was well recorded and reported, but Browning got a 500 dollar fine from then-Manager Davey Johnson for leaving the team.
Johnson had taken over as Manager in May, replacing Tony Perez.
In 2003, Johnson was the interim-Manager of the Netherlands National Baseball Team during the World Port Tournament and the first five games of the following European Championship.
He then filled in for Robert Eenhoorn, who returned as Manager during the Championship.
Johnson stayed on a Assistant Manager, a position he also held during the World Championship later in 2003.
In 2004, during the Haarlem Baseball Week and the Olympic Games in Athens (Greece), Eenhoorn and Johnson returned as Manager and Assistant Manager, while Hensley Meulens was the Bench Coach.
In 2005 (World Championship), 2008 (Olympic Games) and 2009 (World Baseball Classic), Johnson was the Manager of the National USA Team.
He was Team USA's Bench Coach during the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Tom Browning appeared to be without injuries when the 1994 season began, but he sustained a terrible injury on May 9 of that season.
On that day, Browning started for Cincinnati against San Diego Padres at San Diego.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the score was 1-1 when Browning got the bases loaded.
Then, while pitching to Archi Cianfrocco, Browning broke his left arm, which was audible in the entire stadium.
That of course ended his season.
Longtime teammates in Cincinnati were Barry Larkin (nine seasons), Paul O'Neill (eight) Eric Davis (seven), Ron Oester, Joe Oliver, Chris Sabo (all six) and Hal Morris (five) and pitchers Jose Rijo (seven), Ron Robinson (six), Rob Dibble and John Franco (both five).
...Cover of Tom Browning's...
...book published in 2006... |
Other teammates included Buddy Bell, Todd Benzinger, Dave Collins, Dave Concepcion, Kal Daniels, Bo Diaz, Mariano Duncan, Nick Esasky, Terry Francona, Ken Griffey, Sr., Billy Hatcher, Roberto Kelly, Eddie Milner, Dave Parker, Jeff Reed, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, Reggie Sanders, Herm Winningham and pitchers Norm Charlton, Danny Jackson, Randy Myers, Ted Power and Mario Soto.
After he had become a Free Agent following the 1994 season, Tom Browning signed a contract with Kansas City Royals in April 1995.
Browning then pitched in only two games in May and was the losing pitcher both times, giving up thirteen basehits in ten innings, while striking out three.
Thereafter, Browning decided not to pitch again to focus more on the rehabilitation of his arm.
The lefthander signed another one-year contract with Kansas City in December 1995, took part in Spring Training 1996, but then retired before the start of the new season.
At Kansas City, Bob Boone was the Manager and Browning's teammates included Pat Borders, Vince Coleman, Johnny Damon, Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Tom Goodwin, Wally Joyner, Keith Lockhart and pitchers Kevin Appier, Billy Brewer, Tom Gordon, Mark Gubicza and Jeff Montgomery.
In his twelve Major League-seasons, Browning pitched in 302 games (300 starts) and was 123-90 with a 3.94 ERA.
The lefthander struckout exactly 1,000 batters in 1,921 innings pitched, walking 511.
Browning gave up 1,931 basehits, including 236 homeruns.
Tom Browning is one of 19 pitchers in Cincinnati Reds-history with 100 or more victories.
With his 123 wins, he is in twelfth place on the club's all-time list, which is headed by Eppa Rixey, who won 179 games in 1921-1933 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1963.
After his career, Browning was a Minor League Pitching Coach and instructor in the Reds-organization in 2006-2007 and again in 2012 through 2015.
In 2006, Tom Browing was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, together with legendary pitcher Tom Seaver (who passed away in 2020) and first baseman Lee May (passed away in 2017).
Also in 2006, Browning was co-author, with Dann Stupp, of the book Tom Browning's Tales from the Reds Dugout.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News offers his condolences to the family and friends of Tom Browning and wishes them a lot of strength with this big loss.
(December 20)
|
