Lorn Brown (September 18, 1938 – June 24, 2010) was a sports broadcaster who worked for baseball's AAA Iowa Oaks 1973–1974 (St. Louis Cardinals September 1974 fill-in), Chicago White Sox (1976–1979, 1983–1988), Milwaukee Brewers (1980–1981), and New York Mets (1982), among other jobs. He once said that he changed the spelling of his first name from Lorne to Lorn because he didn't want to be confused with the actor Lorne Greene.[1]

Brown's career included working alongside such baseball broadcasters as Harry Caray, Bob Uecker, and Bob Murphy, each a recipient of the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor in the field. While a member of the Mets' TV broadcast team (WOR Channel 9), many Mets fans referred to him as "The Professor" because of his appearance; beside his greying beard and glasses, he would often choose to wear a vest or a Tweed Jacket on air. He was replaced in the Mets booth by Tim McCarver, who would go on to become the highest-profile baseball broadcaster of his generation and winner of the Ford Frick award.

According to Daniel Okrent, his work alongside Uecker could be strained:

Long baseball seasons demanded humor, and Uecker provided it. With the players, he was always charming; at other times, though, he could be brutally cold, as he was to his radio-booth partner from the year before, Lorn Brown. When Brown was doing the play-by-play, Uecker would turn off his mike, making himself inaccessible to a desperate Brown, a decent, earnest, and rather unimaginative man who couldn't easily make it through an inning without the help of a partner. Brown was stolid, plodding, hung up on statistics. He was also painfully ill at ease among ball players, and Uecker disdained him for it.[2]

Brown's basketball work included Bradley U., Drake U, Big 10, ACC, Missouri Valley, Notre Dame and Metro Conf. TV networks[3] as well as TV announcer for the Chicago Bulls 1974-1978.[4] Brown is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.[5]

Brown also turned his baritone voice toward work in the commercial voice-over field, narrating commercials for Budweiser beer, Ace Hardware, and the National Football League, among others. He was represented by Grossman & Jack Talent, Inc.

Brown died from apparent heart failure on June 24, 2010 at the age of 71.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Liptak, Mark. "Flashing Back... ...with Jimmy Piersall." White Sox Interactive. .
  2. ↑ Okrent, Daniel. Nine Innings: The Anatomy of Baseball As Seen Through the Playing of a Single Game. Mcgraw-Hill Book Co. New York. 1985.
  3. ↑ "Former White Sox announcer Lorn Brown dies.", Sports Illustrated. 6/26/1010.
  4. 1 2 Oscar Avila (June 26, 2010). "Former Sox, Bulls announcer Lorn Brown dies". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
  5. ↑ Ibid..
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