This is a story I wrote in 2006 as former Monroe (La.) Monarch outfielder Willard Brown was about to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Louisiana native was an interesting character by most accounts -- and one hell of a slugger.

Descriptions of late Negro League slugger Willard “Home Run” Brown create the image of a man who might fit right in with today’s high-maintenance athletes.
Brown, a Shreveport native who played for the Monroe Monarchs in the mid 1930s, would sometimes loaf when the crowds were light. He looked lackadaisical and nonchalant in the field and had a high opinion of his ability.
“Willard Brown knew he was a star,” esteemed author and Negro League baseball historian Phil Dixon said. “He had a quirky attitude. I interviewed Willard many times and Willard loved baseball.
“He was so graceful, he didn’t look like he was running hard but he was running fast. He was known for not sliding, but he told me he had a broken ankle one time playing with one of those southern teams. He told me he didn’t slide because he was afraid of hurting himself again.”
Despite his approach to the game, Brown produced Hall of Fame credentials. One of 39 candidates being considered for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame by a special selection committee this week (Summer, 2006), Brown had a lifetime .351 batting average.
Brown, who died in 1996, was also a player of social significance too. He broke into the major leagues in July 1947, a few months after Jackie Robinson. Brown was the first black man to hit a home run in the American League
“Willard Brown is a Hall of Famer, no doubt about it,” Dixon said. “Willard doesn’t get all his credit that he deserves.”
Part of Brown’s lack of recognition is his reputation. But according to a number of sources, he was a power hitter on par with Hall of Fame catcher Josh Gibson.
“He was underrated,” former Negro League and Chicago White Sox pitcher Connie Johnson told me in 2003, before his own death. “He could play ball but he just didn’t hustle.”
Dixon has conducted exhaustive research on Negro League statistics and believes Brown hit more than 500 home runs. Further, Dixon believes Brown actually hit more home runs than Gibson, whose feats have probably been exaggerated over time.
“He played a lot longer (than Gibson) and he was steady,” Dixon said.
Another late Negro League pitcher, Wilmer Fields, had tremendous respect for Brown.
“I tried to get a few fastballs by him and it doesn’t look like I succeeded much,” Fields said in a 2003 interview with me. “He could hit the ball.”
Fields, who was president of the NLBPA before his death, also advocated Brown’s Hall of Fame credentials.
“Brown should have been in before a lot of the rest of them,” Fields said. “He could hit the ball. I used to pitch to him and Josh Gibson was my catcher. He could hit with more power, but Brown was more well-rounded as a hitter.”
And yes, Fields confirmed Brown’s “reputation too. He once told an author that Brown would read Reader’s Digest in center field.
“That was his trouble,” Fields said. “He could run – but he was lazy.”
Author John Holway, who has written a number of books on the subject of Negro League baseball, also has significant background knowledge of Brown. An interview with Holway appears in Holway’s book, “Blackball Stars.”
“He had a Gibsonian year in 1946, when his homers extrapolated to about 100 per 550 at bats,” Holway told me in an e-mail two years ago. “His teammates say he was a hell of a player, but he didn’t put out until a big Sunday doubleheader; he loafed when the crowds were small.”

THE MONROE MONARCHS DAYS
Brown spent most of his career playing for the legendary Kansas City Monarchs. But his introduction to professional baseball came in Monroe with the local Monarchs.
“My first contract was in 1934 with Monroe, Louisiana” Brown told Holway in an interview published in the book Blackball Stars. “I was a shortstop and a pitcher then.”
Brown had Monroe teammates like young pitcher Hilton Smith, who was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2001. Hitters like Ted Mayweather were also on the roster.
Although Monroe Monarchs players had a great setup at Casino Park and were treated well by team owner Fred Stovall, Brown bolted when the higher-profile Kansas City Monarchs offered him a better deal. Kansas City offered him him a $250 bonus with a monthly salary of $125, plus a dollar a day for meal money. Monroe was considered a minor Negro League team in those days.
“In 1935, the (Kansas City) Monarchs got me,” Brown told Holway. “J.L. Wilkinson owned the Monarchs and there was a great guy. A wonderful man, a wonderful an. He always got the best ball players. He got five of us from the Monroe Monarchs.”

MAKING HIS NAME
The Web site thediamondangle.com and others like it often refer to Brown as the greatest home run hitter not in the Hall of Fame.
According to thediamondangle.com, Brown “was black baseball's premier home run hitter in the western-based Negro American League. He led the NAL in dingers seven times, 1937, '38, '41, '42, '43, '47 and '48. Only Josh Gibson won more home run titles with nine crowns. Although known primarily for his power, Brown won three batting titles with outstanding averages of 371 in 1937, .356 in 1938 and .333 in 1941.”
Brown was known a hitter who could smash any pitch with his 30 inch, 40 ounce bat..
“He could hit the ball off the ground,” late pitcher Connie Johnson said.
“His hometown park was against him,” Holways said, “or he'd have been better.”

A CUP OF COFFEE
In July 1947, the St. Louis Browns were floundering through another season of major league baseball. In hopes of improving their fortunes, the Browns purchased the contracts of Hank Thompson and Willard Brown from the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs. Thompson and Brown became the first black teammates in the major leagues.
Brown, 36 at the time, lasted 21 games with the St. Louis Browns and was released after batting .179. He became the first black American Leaguer to hit a home run during his short stay with the last-place team.
Brown returned to the Negro League and batted .374 with 18 homers in 1948 and .317 in 1949. Brown also displayed his talents in Puerto Rico and in the Texas Leagues after it was integrated.
In Puerto Rico, he was known as “Ese Hombre” – The Man. He hit a record 27 home runs there in 115 at bats according to Holway. He was a successful minor league player in the Texas League from 1953 through 1956.
“He tore up the Texas League after integration,” Holway said. “Monte Irvin and Larry Doby played against him in the 1946 World Series. … Brown is also huge in Puerto Rico, where he holds the home run record, way ahead of second-place Reggie Jackson.”
According to thediamondangle.com, Brown’s career can be summed up by a 1943 editorial from Rollo Wilson in the Philadelphila Tribune: "After watching him for three years, I am ready to concede that Willard Brown of the Monarchs is one of the really great outfielders of the times and that he ranks with the best. In addition to being a long-ball hitter, he ranges far and fast afield and has a better than average throwing arm. I have seen no one except Babe Ruth hit a longer home run in Shibe Park than the smash Brown delivered there the other evening."