When Cleophus Brown was a young boy, his baseball dreams were confined to the potato patches of Pinson, Alabama. Running the bases of a makeshift ballpark, he never imagined that he would one day play professional ball.
So the Negro Leagues Baseball stamps, a se-tenant pair issued July 15, hold a special significance for Brown, now 76. Not only because they honor the Negro leagues, like the one that launched him beyond the potato patches — and ultimately sparked the integration of American sports — but also because he’s spent the past 30 years driving an 18-wheeler for the U.S. Postal Service.
“It’s a real big deal for me,” says Brown, who joined in the stamp unveiling celebration at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. After years spent collecting books about the players before his time, Brown says he’s proud to see the history of the Negro Leagues being honored.
Brown began playing competitive baseball while serving in the U.S. Army at age 17. After earning a reputation as an ace pitcher for the service team, he was recruited by the Negro Leagues in 1954. “Hard Hittin’ Brown” played for two years as a southpaw pitcher and first baseman for the Birmingham Black Barons and Louisville Clippers before an arm injury sent him back to Birmingham for treatment.
Though he quickly recovered his lightning pitch, Brown decided against a return to life on the road and instead joined the competitive Birmingham industrial league. A man of extra innings, he continued to play semi-professional ball until age 65 and was inducted into the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame in 2004.
As for the Postal Service, he’s still trucking six days a week, with no plans to retire. “I love it — that’s why I won’t quit,” he says. “All the guys I came in with retired on me, but I’m still going, day after day.”
After all, Hard Hittin’ Brown didn’t get his name for nothing.
Photo Credit: © Marvin Owens, Photographer