Chet Brewer

"He had three speeds: fast, faster and out of sight!
He threw a pea, an aspirin and one with a tail on it!"

--Al McKerlie, catcher for Brewer on the 1952 Carmen,
Manitoba Cardinals, when Brewer was 45 years old!

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Negro Leaguer of the Month
December, 2002

Chet Brewer
Position: pitcher
Career: 1924-1952
Teams: Tennessee Rats, Gilkerson's Union Giants, Kansas City Monarchs, Crookston (MN), Bismarck (ND) Churchills, Brooklyn Royal Giants, New York Cubans, Philadelphia Stars, Dominican Republic, Cleveland Buckeyes, Chicago American Giants, Carmen Cardinals

HT: 6'-4"; WT: 180 lbs
Batted right; threw right
Born: Jan. 14, 1907 in Leavenworth, KS
Died: March 26, 1990 in Whittier, CA

A tall, handsome pitcher who could beat you with raw speed, or the emery ball, Chet Brewer is one of the top 20 pitchers in Negro League history.

Brewer may have been one of the most well-traveled baseball players of his era, having played in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, Hawaii, the Philippines, Haiti, China and Japan. Brewer was also the first black player to play in Mexico, going 18-3 with Tampico in 1938.

Brewer's most famous pitching performance occurred in 1930 when his Kansas City Monarchs faced Smokey Joe Williams and the Homestead Grays. The game was played under the portable lighting system that the Monarchs traveled with (which was poor at best), and it resulted in a pitching duel for the ages. Brewer, using the emery ball he learned from Double Duty Radcliffe while on the Gilkerson's Union Giants, struck out 19 Grays. Williams struck out 27 and eventually won 1-0 in 12 innings.

Brewer was one of the first black players to play integrated baseball when he was signed by Crookston, Minnesota in 1931 along with catcher John Van. Brewer won every game he pitched that year, was given a key to the city, and showed many Midwest towns what a top black pitcher could do for an otherwise ordinary team.

Integration was not strange to Brewer as he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, playing high school basketball and football.

In 1934 Brewer again played integrated ball, this time with Jamestown, North Dakota in a series against a Major League All-Star team. Brewer shut out the Major League stars on six hits, striking out six.

In 1935 Brewer was hired away from the Monarchs to play with an integrated Bismarck team in the first National Semipro tournament in Wichita, Kansas. The Bismarck team, which featured white semipros as well as Satchel Paige, Double Duty, Hilton Smith, Quincy Trouppe and Barney Morris, won the tourney in 7 straight, Brewer winning 3 games and Paige winning 4.

Brewer, like many others (like Hilton Smith) often pitched in the shadow of Satchel Paige. In 1934, the Monarchs and House of David met in the championship game of the Denver Post tournament. The Monarchs pitched Brewer, and the House of David hired Satchel Paige, the only beardless player on the squad, and Paige won 2-1.

In 1937 Ciudad Trujillo hired Negro Leaguers Satchel Paige, Sam Bankhead, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, and in the championship game Paige beat Brewer and his Aguilas Cibaenas team when Sam Bankhead hit a grand slam off Brewer (although during the year he one-hit the Trujillo team).

Brewer did his share of winning, though, copping titles with the Kansas City Monarchs, Bismarck, Panama and the Cleveland Buckeyes.

Chet Brewer played in only two East-West All-Star games, mainly because he played so many years abroad; he played in the '34 and '47 games, sporting a 1.50 ERA in 6 innings.