William Brown (baseball)

{{Short description|American baseball player (1866–1897)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=William Brown

|image=William Brown 1889 Giants.jpg

|position=First baseman / Catcher

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|birth_date=1866

|birth_place=San Francisco, California

|death_date={{death date and age|1897|12|20|1866||}}

|death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=May 10

|debutyear=1887

|debutteam=New York Giants

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=May 20

|finalyear=1894

|finalteam=St. Louis Browns

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.261

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=6

|stat3label=Runs scored

|stat3value=236

|teams=

• New York Giants (1887–1889)
• New York Giants (PL) (1890)
• Philadelphia Phillies (1891)
• Baltimore Orioles (1893)
• Louisville Colonels (1893–1894)
• St. Louis Browns (1894)

}}

William M. Brown (1866 – December 20, 1897"[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F06E3D91039E433A25751C2A9649D94669ED7CF Death List of a Day]", The New York Times, December 22, 1897.), nicknamed "Big Bill", was a Major League Baseball player who played infielder from {{baseball year|1887}}-{{baseball year|1894}}. He played for the New York Giants, New York Giants (PL), Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Louisville Colonels.

In 1895, Brown developed a problem with his lungs. He travelled to Hawaii, southern California, and Arizona in an effort to find a climate that would be more beneficial for his health, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and he died as a result of his condition at home in San Francisco in 1897.