Looking Back: Marty Brown was a Sounds Player and Manager

Marty Brown (1988-89) was the first Sounds player to later become their manager (2001-02). The Cincinnati Reds selected Brown in the 12th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball Draft out of the University of Georgia. At the time the Reds were a franchise on the rise.
"The Reds were a great developmental organization," Brown said recently from his Missouri home. "Cam Bonifay was the scout that originally signed me. I ended up later managing in the Pittsburgh organization when he was a general manager. It was a great atmosphere to get into. The Reds organization was the prime organization at that time. I was pleased to be drafted by them since Pete Rose was my idol growing up."
Brown moved up though the Reds' farm system beginning in Rookie ball, Single-A (Billings), Double-A (Vermont) and, in 1988, Triple-A Nashville. At the time the Sounds were members of the American Association.
"Nashville was the greatest city ever," said Brown. "I loved the organization. Everybody knew who Larry Schmittou [Sounds owner and President] was and what he was trying to do with professional baseball at that time.There was such a great fan base and a great time for me."
In that 1988 season in Nashville, the manager situation was strange with five different managers in a two-week period. Jack Lind began the season but quit due to health reasons. Sounds pitching coach Wayne Garland managed one game and was replaced by former Sounds manager George Scherger who retired after one game. Jim Hoff managed a few games but was promoted to the Reds front office. Frank Lucchesi finished the season.
"We came through the system so it didn't really affect us very much," Brown said about the multiple managers. "We had such good leaders on the team. We knew that Hoff knew what he was doing. He had been our field coordinator. Wayne [Garland] was around us all the time.
"Jack [Lind] was kind of on his own program and he did his thing. He didn't mesh with the Reds so they let him go. Then Frank Lucchesi came along. He thought he was going to be the next manager in Cincinnati, but Pete (Rose) got that job.
"Frank had already managed in Chicago. He really managed an older team really well. Frank was a standup guy. Obviously, it's what Marge [Schott--Reds owner] wanted at that time. We moved forward with great leadership with Frank."
On August 6th and 7th that season, Herschel Greer Stadium was part of minor league baseball history with back-to-back no-hitters. Future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson pitching for Indianapolis started the first game but was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning (the DH rule was not applied). The Sounds would win the game, 1-0.
"I had faced Randy a few years earlier in Alaska," said Brown. "He didn't throw anything like in Alaska and what he threw against us that night. He was 6-10 throwing downhill. He walked Lenny Harris. Lenny stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch. Kevin Brown [Sounds pitcher] just kept battling. He was a hard-nosed pitcher and didn't give up any runs. The next night, Jack Armstrong pitched a no-hitter and we won [4-0]. We won two games with no-hitters.
This was the first time in American Association history that back-to-back no-hitters were thrown. Both games were nine innings and Brown recorded an RBI single in the second game. The Sounds finished the season 73-69 in fourth place missing the playoffs.
For that season, Brown batted .264 (128-for-543) in 135 games playing third base. He collected seven home runs and 55 RBIs. Brown was selected to the mid-season American Association All-Star team.
"I really enjoyed Nashville," said Brown "My family was young. Nashville embraced all the players. Even though the accommodations weren't great we preferred being in Nashville because of the city. Batting .264 was not what I wanted to hit. At the end of the year the Reds called up Van Snider and Lenny Harris. Frank pounded the table and said if you're going to call up these guys, Marty Brown should be called up as well. That's how I got called up."
During his September call-up, Brown played in 10 games, batted .188 (3-for-16) with one double and two RBIs. Brown vividly remembers his first major league at-bat and hit.
"It was against Frank DiPino in Wrigley Field," Brown said about his first big league plate appearance. "I hit a line drive and the wind was blowing in from right field. I hit the crap out of it. But the right fielder went back and caught it. I had seven at-bats before I got my first hit. Out of those seven at-bats, five of those balls were hit on the nose. I got my first hit off Paul Assenmacher. It was a fluke that I got in there.
"Pete (Rose) was our manager and we were in the shower after the first game. Pete told me that before we leave Atlanta I would get my first hit. The next day I came out there and nothing. I wasn't in the line-up. The next day, I wasn't in the line-up. All of a sudden Nick Esasky came out of a game because he had vertigo. I pinch-hit for Nick. Barry Larkin was on base.
"I hit a line drive single to right field and Barry went to second. Kal Daniels came up and singled to right field. I went first to third. Lee May was our first base coach and saw me talking to Pete. Pete said, 'I told you.' People don't know how good Kal Daniels and Paul O'Neill were. We had good players. They won the World Series in 1990."
The next season (1989), as a Sound, Brown batted .244 (103-for-471) in 120 games. Brown clubbed 12 home runs with 46 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. The Sounds finished the season 74-72 in fourth place for manager Frank Lucchesi. Another call-up to Rose's Reds produced a .167 (5-for-30) batting average in 16 games with four RBIs.
"I grew up idolizing Pete Rose," Brown said. "I wore No. 14 all the way through my career. As I got to know Pete, he wasn't quite the same. I had a huge amount of respect for Pete as a player. He prided himself as being a young player's manager. In retrospect, he really wasn't. He was more about taking care of the veterans. That's the way Pete was.
"It was one of those deals where I thought I would have been one of Pete's favorites. Pete was all about production. I never got that real legitimate opportunity to show Pete what I could actually do on the field. He did not allow me to do that. So I can't have a real good feeling about Pete when he was my manager.
"Pete ran a game well as manager, but as far as getting the most out of his players he didn't. Pete [as a player] was the first one in the clubhouse after a game. If he got three hits, he was the last one to leave if they won or lost. If he didn't get any hits he was the first one out of the clubhouse if they won or lost. That's the way Pete was. Pete was about himself. You can ask anybody like Joe Morgan who played with him. They will tell you the same thing."
In the winter of 1989, the Baltimore Orioles selected Brown in the Rule 5 Draft. Brown played for the Orioles' Triple-A Rochester team. He was called up to Baltimore where he appeared in nine games batting .200 (3-for-15). Frank Robinson managed the Orioles.
The Lawton, Oklahoma native said he was disappointed playing for Robinson that there was a division in the clubhouse for the fifth place Orioles. Said Brown, "It was really tough for me trying to make my way."
Brown played the 1991 season with the Cleveland Indians' Triple-A Colorado Springs club, where he batted .301. The next three seasons, he had an illustrious career playing in Japan for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. During that time he hit 65 home runs while collecting 165 RBI. After the 1996 season with the Texas Rangers' Triple-A Oklahoma City club, Brown began his managerial career in the Pirates organization with the Erie Seawolves.
Other manager jobs followed: Augusta (1998), Altoona (1999-2000), Nashville (2001-02), Buffalo (2002-05), Hiroshima Toyo Carp (2006-09), Tohoku (Japan) (2010), Las Vegas (2011-2012) and Buffalo (2013). Brown was asked if playing and managing in Japan was similar to the Tom Selleck movie "Mr. Baseball."
"Everything in the movie is just like how it was in Japan for me," Brown said. "I'm married to a Japanese woman [Kyoko]. She helps me with my baseball camp. I brought the best part of Japan home with me. When I was a player and manager, I was treated like a king. It was a great situation. I played everyday. I went over there to help. I didn't need to be the man and I got paid for it.
"I would go back there in a heartbeat to manage. The manager is never disrespected no matter the nationality. There were never any real issues. There's no division within the clubhouse. That is their culture. You have your problems now and then, but not like it is here. If I had a choice to manage here at the major league level or in Japan, I'd choose Japan."
Brown's Nashville teams as manager were 64-77 and 72-71, placing 14th and tied for eighth place in the Pacific Coast League. While in his first stretch in Buffalo, Brown led his Bisons to the American Association's title in 2004. For that effort he was named Manager of the Year and Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America.
Brown was a scout in the Washington Nationals organization for three years, which gave him an opportunity to drop by First Tennessee Park and take a quick visit to Greer Stadium.
"I have such great memories coming back to Nashville," said Brown. "I was pretty young as a manager going into that, but I had my own beliefs in what I wanted to do as an organization. It was fun. I had good players there and being in Nashville made me a better manager. I went by Greer just to check it out and it looked the same, but obviously run down. Nashville really needed the new ballpark. I know they are doing pretty well."
Traughber's Tidbit: Marty Brown will be inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame on August 10. Brown also operates "Brown's Baseball Academy" in Rolla, Missouri (brownsbaseballacademy.com). They run three teams and play in tournaments during the summer. He also teaches courses throughout the winter. Said Brown, "I'm just trying to make baseball better in the Midwest."