Buster Brown

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1905-1913)

Buster Brown was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1905 to 1913 for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Boston Braves, a span of 9 seasons. Across 234 career appearances, he went 51-103 with a 3.21 ERA and 501 strikeouts. He also batted .182 with 3 home runs.

W (Wins):
Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):
Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):
For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):
Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated

W–L 51–103
ERA 3.21
WHIP 1.38
SO 501
Pitcher PIV -23759.2
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'0" / 180 lb
Born
8/31/1881 in Boone, IA, USA
Died
2/9/1914 in Sioux City, IA, USA
MLB Debut
1905-06-22
Last Game
1913-04-26

Full name: Charles Edward Brown

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Career Pitching Statistics

Buster Brown — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
51 103 234 165 106 10 4 1451.2 1,368 517 36 631 501 3.21 -23759.2

Career ERA 3.21 vs. league average 2.84 across their career seasons — 12.9% worse than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Buster Brown Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1905 SLN NL 8 11 23 21 17 3 0 178.2 172 59 62 57 2.97 2.82 (-5%) -2860.0
1906 SLN NL 8 16 32 27 21 0 0 238.1 208 70 112 109 2.64 2.68 (+1%) -2638.6
1907 SLN NL 1 6 9 8 6 0 0 63.2 57 24 45 17 3.39 2.50 (-36%) -3040.6
1907 PHI NL 9 6 21 16 13 4 0 130.0 118 35 56 38 2.42 2.50 (+3%) -2684.8
1908 PHI NL 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 7.0 9 2 5 3 2.57 — 0.0
1909 PHI NL 0 0 7 1 0 0 0 25.0 22 9 16 10 3.24 2.55 (-27%) -909.3
1909 BSN NL 4 8 18 17 8 2 0 123.1 108 43 56 32 3.14 2.55 (-23%) -2509.1
1910 BSN NL 9 23 46 29 16 1 2 263.0 251 78 94 88 2.67 2.79 (+4%) -1379.7
1911 BSN NL 8 18 42 25 13 0 2 241.0 258 115 116 76 4.29 3.37 (-27%) -5776.3
1912 BSN NL 4 15 31 21 12 0 0 168.1 146 75 66 68 4.01 3.36 (-19%) -1894.5
1913 BSN NL 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 13.1 19 7 3 3 4.72 3.07 (-54%) -66.5
Career · 11 seasons 51 103 234 165 106 10 4 1,451.2 1,368 517 631 501 3.21 — -23,759

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Buster Brown — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
235 522 38 95 23 7 3 23 0 18 139 .182 .211 .270 .481 -1,930

Career AVG .182 vs. league average .252 across their career seasons — 27.9% below league average.

Career OBP .211 vs. league average .316 across their career seasons — 33.3% below league average.

Career SLG .270 vs. league average .329 across their career seasons — 17.8% below league average.

Career OPS .481 vs. league average .644 across their career seasons — 25.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Buster Brown Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1905 SLN NL 23 65 3 6 0 3 0 1 0 1 23 .092 .248 (-63%) .307 (-65%) .322 (-43%) .629 (-54%) -524.7
1906 SLN NL 32 85 4 14 3 0 1 4 0 4 23 .165 .247 (-33%) .307 (-34%) .315 (-25%) .622 (-30%) -368.9
1907 SLN NL 9 26 1 7 1 1 0 1 0 0 4 .269 — — — — 0.0
1907 PHI NL 21 53 7 10 2 2 0 6 0 1 10 .189 .245 (-23%) .304 (-33%) .308 (-2%) .613 (-18%) 0.0
1908 PHI NL 4 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .200 — — — — 0.0
1909 PHI NL 7 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 — — — — 0.0
1909 BSN NL 18 48 4 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 .146 — — — — 0.0
1910 BSN NL 46 81 6 16 3 1 1 3 0 3 21 .198 .249 (-21%) .317 (-29%) .326 (-9%) .644 (-19%) -253.4
1911 BSN NL 42 84 6 21 7 0 1 5 0 4 24 .250 .266 (-6%) .336 (-15%) .356 (+3%) .693 (-6%) -105.5
1912 BSN NL 31 61 6 13 7 0 0 3 0 2 18 .213 .268 (-21%) .335 (-29%) .358 (-9%) .694 (-18%) -202.2
1913 BSN NL 2 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 11 seasons 235 522 38 95 23 7 3 23 0 18 139 .182 — — — — -1,455

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (469 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Buster Brown — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home1222552348118.188
Away113265144726.177

Pitching — Home / Away

Buster Brown — Pitching — Home / Away
SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home121753.07141833292572.19
Away113692.26721553052462.01

Last 10 Games — Batting

Buster Brown — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1913-04-26 BSNPHIL 200000001
1913-04-18 BSNNY1L 310000011
1912-09-30 BSNBROL 200000100
1912-09-14 BSNSTLW 413200101
1912-09-10 BSNCHCL 000000000
1912-08-22 BSNCHCL 000000000
1912-08-16 BSNSTLL 412200001
1912-08-10 BSNCHCL 000000000
1912-08-07 BSNCINL 200000001
1912-08-06 BSNCINL 000000000

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Buster Brown — Last 10 Games — Pitching
DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1913-04-26 BSNPHI — 6.0744120
1913-04-18 BSNNY1 — 7.11265210
1912-09-30 BSNBRO L 9.0863230
1912-09-14 BSNSTL W 9.0822350
1912-09-10 BSNCHC — 1.0211010
1912-08-22 BSNCHC — 2.21099220
1912-08-16 BSNSTL L 8.0675420
1912-08-10 BSNCHC — 0.1000000
1912-08-07 BSNCIN — 4.2622030
1912-08-06 BSNCIN L 0.1333001

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Buster Brown — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
P 234 119 75 434 30 20

Season-by-Season Fielding

Buster Brown — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1905 SLN P 23 21 12 61 4 3
1906 SLN P 32 27 17 71 7 4
1907 SLN P 9 8 5 26 0 1
1907 PHI P 21 16 6 34 2 1
1908 PHI P 3 0 2 6 0 0
1909 PHI P 7 1 1 8 0 0
1909 BSN P 18 17 10 36 4 1
1910 BSN P 46 29 10 80 7 3
1911 BSN P 42 0 8 67 6 6
1912 BSN P 31 0 4 42 0 1
1913 BSN P 2 0 0 3 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Buster Brown Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Pitcher 234

College History

Buster Brown — College History
School Name City State Years Attended
Iowa State University Ames IA 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Buster Brown (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Bill James
    65-71, 3.20 ERA
  2. 97
    Allen Sothoron
    91-100, 3.31 ERA
  3. 95
    Elmer Knetzer
    69-69, 3.15 ERA
  4. 93
    Doc Scanlan
    65-71, 3.00 ERA
  5. 93
    Harry Harper
    57-76, 2.87 ERA
  6. 93
    Mickey Haefner
    78-91, 3.50 ERA

Buster Brown: the record in brief

The profile opens with Buster Brown's first major league game on June 22, 1905; the last one listed came on April 26, 1913. Club by club, the record runs the St. Louis Cardinals (1905 through 1907), the Philadelphia Phillies (1907 to 1909), the Boston Doves (1909 to 1910), the Boston Rustlers (1911), and the Boston Braves (1912 to 1913). Brown played primarily as a pitcher and both batted and threw right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on August 31, 1881, in Boone, IA, USA and a listed size of 6-foot-0 and 180 pounds. The bio records the death on February 9, 1914, in Sioux City, IA, USA. The bio lists the given name Charles Edward.

Brown's career pitching line is 51 wins, 103 losses and a 3.21 ERA over 234 appearances. Also on Brown's record: 501 strikeouts, 106 complete games, and 10 shutouts. The league ERA over Brown's seasons was 2.84, so the 3.21 figure ran 12.9% worse than average. 1907 brought Brown a season-high 9 wins.

Frequently Asked Questions about Buster Brown

What years did Buster Brown play?
Buster Brown played in Major League Baseball from 1905 to 1913.
Was Buster Brown a pitcher?
Yes. Buster Brown pitched in the major leagues, recording 51 wins and 501 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Buster Brown hit?
Buster Brown hit 3 career home runs with 95 hits.
What teams did Buster Brown play for?
Buster Brown played for 3 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1905–1907), the Philadelphia Phillies (1907–1909), and the Boston Braves (1909–1913).
What were Buster Brown's career stats?
In 234 games, Buster Brown went 51-103 with a 3.21 ERA, 501 strikeouts, 1,451.2 innings pitched, and 4 saves. At the plate he had 95 hits and 3 home runs.
What position did Buster Brown play?
Buster Brown played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Buster Brown and how much did he weigh?
Buster Brown was listed at 6 feet and 180 pounds.
What was Buster Brown's career ERA?
Buster Brown finished with a 3.21 career ERA, going 51-103 with 501 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Buster Brown have?
Buster Brown recorded 501 career strikeouts.
Is Buster Brown in the Hall of Fame?
No. Buster Brown has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.