Ray Brown has one of the most impressive looking records for the Negro Leagues I have seen. Baseball reference has him with a 14-0 win-loss record in 1938 while leading the league in earned run average. I guess he should arguably rank higher. It is hard to say. One of the things that helps him he pitched at the right time for these good seasons to show up now. The other is I looked at different rating systems and none of them have Brown as one of the top four. In fact, Hilton Smith who I have in 20th place is often ranked ahead of Brown. So, I have moved him up a little bit.
After years of playing in the Negro Leagues in 1946, 38-year-old Ray Brown went to play in the Mexican League. So did some white major leaguers. So, both white and black Americans were playing with the Mexican players in Mexico. All players who jumped to the Mexican League were suspended, even though the American and National League had no jurisdiction over Negro League players. However, there wasn’t too many people at the time advocating having more black players play in the National and American League. By the time commissioner Happy Chandler rescinded the ban Brown was 41. He had not chance to play in the American and National League. Instead, he went to Canada and played a few years up there. He pitched in the 1953 in a small league when he was 45 years old and went 13-5. He wasn’t the same pitcher, but he was still really good.
