I remember his rookie year. I remember more and more rookie years of dead players.

1985 is the first season I remember following on an every day basis. The Reds were good, if not good enough to catch LA. Rose chasing Cobb was the big daily story ofc but Browning's run to get to 20 wins was also a lot of fun, as was the rest of his career. RIP.

Browning's only trip to the postseason came in 1990, but he got the win in his one World Series start and the Reds took the title in a four-game sweep over the heavily favored A's.

This leaves out the best part of that WS for Browning! In the middle of game 2, his wife went into labor. He snuck out of the stadium to be with her, figuring he wasn't getting in anyways since he was going to start game 3. Naturally game 2 went into extras. Lou Piniella went nuts because he couldn't find Browning and nobody knew where he was, so the team asked the announcers to put out a public call asking Browning to return. Browning was watching from the hospital (in uniform) and got the news.

"We had to have a C-section, so she had to have an epidural, so the doctor said, 'hey while we're preparing for the epidural, why don't you go to the doctor's lounge and watch the game.' I get in, I sit down, and the first person I see is Tim McCarver, he's looking right at me, 'Tom, if you're watching, they need you to come out here,'" Browning said. "I said, 'What?'"

Browning pitched 6 innings the next day, giving up 3 runs and getting the win.

well this hits home, as I turn 62 tomorrow.

#2 that is great, I had heard that before but I had forgotten it.

Was 1990 such a different time that Browning couldn't have just skipped the game to be with his wife with the full awareness of his team? I feel like that wouldn't even be a controversy today, give or take a Clay Travis tweet.

I assume the baby had its own schedule. I would think today, there would be a C-section or induced labor on a day off.

But I think even in other parts of the world, folks seem more understanding. Raheem Sterling missed time in the World Cup because his home in England was robbed by home invaders.

His wife died earlier this year and he had some well publicized substance abuse issues. Perhaps these were related to his passing? Very sad in any case.

He was such a likeable character, easy to root for, and baseball is less fun without him.

I always had a soft spot for Browning because we shared a birthday. The left-handed version of Pete Harnisch:

TB: 123-90, 3.94 ERA, 1921 IP, 97 ERA+, 31 CG, 12 SHO, 4.7 K/9

PH: 111-103, 3.89 ERA, 1959 IP, 103 ERA+, 24 CG, 11 SHO, 6.3 K/9

I always had a soft spot for Browning because we shared a birthday.

I always followed him because he pitched for the school where my closest high school friend did (my buddy threw a couple of seasons in A ball).

RIP Tom.

My favorite Tom Browning story was the time he left Wrigley Field -- in uniform, during a game -- and made his way to the rooftop seats across the street.

I remember dreaming of Browning covered in blood after slashing his wrists in anguish over the Orioles' record 0-21 start in 1988. Not that he ever pitched for Baltimore, my dreaming self to the contrary.

RIP

that watching the c*bs game from the wrigley rooftop thingy was kewl. such a lefty thing to do

i sort of kind of remember him from the WS in 90 even though what i remember best is eric davis (my mama kept pointing him out saying he was a no argument HOFer) and jose rijo and the As going 1988 all ovah again.

but i really remember him for breaking his arm throwing a pitch and he didn't even have cancer in it like the john birch guy did

The 2022 team has taken a huge step forward in December:

c - John Stearns
1b - John Wockenfuss
2b - Julio Cruz
3b - Pete Ward
ss - Maury Wills
lf - Tommy Davis
cf - Gerald Williams
rf - Hector Lopez

sp - Gaylord Perry
sp - Curt Simmons
sp - Joe Horlen
sp - Dick Ellsworth
sp - Tom Browning
rp - Bruce Sutter
rp - Bob Locker

Mgr - Maury Wills

My mistake.

That's a pretty good pitching staff.

Twelve years, 123 wins, a ring and a perfect game.

That's a nice way to spend a key portion of your life.

One of 16 MLB players born in Wyoming, and probably the best. He or Dick Ellsworth.

RIP.

"the john birch guy"? That is what you remember about him? Not the Hutch award, or the 116 ERA+? Huh. And no, I ain't no Bircher.

Dravecky.

i always thought of john birch as being a thing where people who are wasp hate all people who are not, but i just went and looked it up and actually thy sound more like Qanon with the hysteria about the One World Government Order. that is so STOOPID. we can't even get a one world school board in a small town - order. world my ass.

but yeah, when someone is an out of the closet john birch supporter/missionary, i remember that. and of course him breaking his arm throwing a pitch. him and browning and tony saunders - all leftys who broke their arm pitching. a very freaky thing

According to Wikipedia, Dee Gordon won the Hutch Award in 2019. The only winner since then is… Anthony Fauci.

wow

an 82 yr old playing baseball. is there ANYTHING he can't do?????

Was 1990 such a different time that Browning couldn't have just skipped the game to be with his wife with the full awareness of his team? I feel like that wouldn't even be a controversy today, give or take a Clay Travis tweet.

I think he would have gotten criticism. More generally I think the fact that he didn't ask and felt the need to sneak out says a lot about the attitudes of the day. I'm sure it's the kind of thing he didn't feel would have been appropriate to even ask about. And let's face facts, I'm not thinking Lou Pineilla was the most enlightened manager in the world and the Reds owner wasn't exactly a people person either.

Reds owner wasn't exactly a people person either.

That's a good point. Most owners and managers would have probably been cool with Browning being there for his wife and baby, especially if he wasn't scheduled to pitch that day anyway.

Marge Schott... not so much. She probably would have tried to dock him his WS share. At least.

Marge Schott... not so much. She probably would have tried to dock him his WS share. At least.

Considering how she treated Eric Davis after he lacerated his kidney in Oakland, that's not a stretch at all.

and of course him breaking his arm throwing a pitch. him and browning and tony saunders - all leftys who broke their arm pitching. a very freaky thing

John Smiley did it too, another lefty. Four lefties between 1989 and 1997, and as far as I know, no one since. I have never heard a good explanation for that.

Well, there was a decent explanation for Dravecky's. The others, perhaps, not so much.

Was 1990 such a different time that Browning couldn't have just skipped the game to be with his wife with the full awareness of his team? I feel like that wouldn't even be a controversy today, give or take a Clay Travis tweet.

I don't think players these days miss World Series games for births, except maybe if they had pitched 5+ innings the day before.

But I don't know why Browning and Jackson were flipped in the rotation order after the NLCS in the first place. Maybe they pushed Browning back because of the impending birth?

re Browning on the rooftop at Wrigley:

"Years later, Browning shared a story of an interaction with a fan with Cincinnati TV station WCPO.

"She said, ‘What are you doing over here?'" Browning recalled. "I said, ‘I just wanted to see what it was like to see a ballgame.’

“She goes, 'That's so cool. Do you want a beer and a brat?’ and I said, ‘Nope, I'm already in trouble.’”

...................

Reds left fielder Kevin Mitchell homered twice during the game, and he told Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News that after one homer, he saw someone in a Reds jersey waving at him from across the street. It wasn't until he returned to the dugout that he discovered it was his teammate.

"I'm glad I didn't see him before I batted because I was laughing so hard I couldn't have hit," Mitchell said. "I thought it was great. It loosens everybody up."

sp - Curt Simmons
sp - Joe Horlen
sp - Dick Ellsworth
sp - Tom Browning

I was going to post that two those guys started WS games ~40 years apart, but Simmons was drafted for the Korean War in Sep, 1950 and didn't appear in the series.

My brother's first comment after the news was about how good Browning was on our NES Baseball Stars team. Baseball Stars of course didn't have an MLB license so we had to create a player "Tom" and build up his attributes. Yet I remember Tom alongside Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson.

Baseball Stars was the greatest. Without exaggeration, I probably played 500 hours of that game. It was definitely favorable to hitters as the teams got powered up though.

Marge Schott... not so much. She probably would have tried to dock him his WS share. At least.

Considering how she treated Eric Davis after he lacerated his kidney in Oakland, that's not a stretch at all.

Eh, she probably would've treated Browning differently, considering he wasn't...quite as tan.