Sunday Remembrance of Rangers Past....Jerry Browne

* Jerry Browne was signed by the Rangers as an amateut free agent at the age of 17 on March 3, 1983 out of Christiansted in the United States Virgin Islands.

* Christiansted, which is on the island of St. Croix, is also the birth place of San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan.

* He is one of ten players from the Virgin Islands who have played in the Major Leagues. Horace Clarke, who played ten years as a second baseman for the New York Yankees in 1965-74, is the all-time leader with 1,272 games played among the ten from the Virgin Islands. Browne is second with 982 games played.

* Browne said that Clarke was the reason why he played in the Major Leagues: "He was from St. Croix, too, and I used to look up to him when I was a kid. A lot of us did, although we never saw him play." 

* Clarke organized a group of players from St. Croix, including Browne, to play a Puerto Rican All-Star team in the winter of 1982-83. Jose Guzman, who had already signed with the Rangers, pitched for Puerto Rico and Browne had two hits off him, a double and a single. Gomez eventually signed Browne.

* Browne later recalled it saying: "We had a little tournament in Puerto Rico. They actually came over to St. Croix first, and Orlando came over with them. The following week, we ended up going back over there, and luckily I had a pretty good series. I caught his eye, and he came back, and we sat down and talked. He told me who he was and what was going on, and I’m like ‘Whoa!’ That was kind of surprising. There were a few scouts coming in and out of the Virgin Islands, but not very many."

* His nickname was "Guv'nor" after former California governor Jerry Brown. Said the Rangers' version: "The funny part about it is that when a coach pinned it on me in Rookie League, I wasn't sure who he was talking about."

* Browne received a September callup in 1986 and was 10-for-24, a .417 average that is still the second highest average by a Ranger in that month for someone with at least 25 plate appearances.

* Browne was 21 in the 1987 Spring Training camp and wasn't expected to make the team. He even had a lousy spring. But Jeff Kunkel, who appeared to be the starting second baseman, suffered a seperated shoulder and the Rangers didn't have anybody else. One rumor had then signing former Braves third baseman Bob Horner and moving Steve Buechele to second. Another plan was to have Larry Parrish and Tom O'Malley platoon at third with Buechele moving to second.

* Browne ended up being the Rangers Opening Day second baseman that year and batted .271. That's the third highest average by a Rangers rookie with enough AB's to qualify for the batting title. Bump Wills hit .287 in 1977 and Mike Lamb hit .278 in 2000.

* Browne led the Rangers with a .358 on-base percentage, six triples and stole 27 bases. He was caught 17 times, a 61.4 success rate that is the fourth lowest in club history for a player with at least 25 steals. Bert Campaneris was 27-for-47 (57.4 percent) in 1977.

* Browne was the Rangers Rookie of the Year in 1987 but did not get consideration for the national award. Oakland's Mark McGwire was a unanimous winner after hitting 49 home runs. Others getting second and third place votes were Royals third baseman Kevin Seitzer, Tigers catcher Matt Nokes, Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell, Angels outfielder Devon White and Blue Jays infielder Nelson Liriano.

* Browne started off 1988 hitting .197 with just two doubles and a triple in his first 47 games and 132 at-bats. On June 9, he was demoted to Triple A Oklahoma City. He was joined there by outfielder Oddibe McDowell and pitcher Bobby Witt. All three were shocking demotions at a time when the club's celebated youth movement had come to a standstill and the Rangers were desperately trying to wake some people up.

* The demotions of McDowell and Witt, the Rangers No. 1 draft picks in 1984 and 1985, were much more stunning than Browne, who stayed at Oklahoma until September.

* One of the biggest trades in Rangers history occured on Dec. 6, 1988 when they traded Browne, McDowell and popular first baseman Pete O'Brien to the Cleveland Indians for second baseman Julio Franco. That was the same winter when the Rangers signed pitcher Nolan Ryan and acquired first baseman Rafael Palmeiro from the Cubs.

* General manager Tom Grieve made the trade and said of Browne: "I realize Jerry Browne has the potential to become a Johnny Ray or Willie Randolph - a young second baseman who is traded before he establishes himself in the big leagues. But I know right know Julio Franco is an outstanding second baseman, and (Browne) can not fit in our plans if Julio Franco is our second baseman."

* Browne's reaction to the trade: "I want to be an everyday second baseman, and if that's the kind of chance I'm getting then I'm going to have no regrets. There's no room for me to be bitter about the Rangers. They gave me a shot at second one year and I did all right. They gave me another shot and I stunk. They said they had to make some trades, and I guess I just made myself one of them."

* Browne had two strong years for the Indians, hitting .299 with 83 runs scored in 1989 and .267 with 92 runs scored in 1990. But he slipped to .228 in 1991 and was released by the Indians at the end of Spring Training in 1992. He caught on with the Athletics and had two decent seasons with them.

* He was 4-for-10 for Oakland in the 1992 ALCS against Toronto. Browne led the American League in sacrifice bunts in 1992 but was limited by a broken hand the following season.

* Browne spent the next two seasons with the Florida Marlins. He tried to catch on with the Mets in 1996 but didn't make the team out of Spring Training and refused assignment to Triple A Norfolk where he would have played for Bobby Valentine again.

* Said Browne: "I don’t regret nothing I did. I went into camp as an invitee, knowing that I had to have a real good spring to make the club, and I knew to myself that I did. I was the odd man out, and I sat down with the Mets and asked ‘Now if I go to Norfolk, what’s the chances of getting called up?’ And they said ‘We can’t guarantee anything.’ So I made the decision that I was going to come home and hang out with the family, and I don’t regret it one bit."

* He went to Spring Training with the Rangers in 1997 and was even willing to start the season at Triple A Oklahoma. But two days before the start of the season, the Rangers released him.

* When Browne showed up in Minor League camp in 1983, the Rangers thought he spoke Spanish because he was so quiet and didn't say much. Tom Grieve, then the Farm Director, saw a pitcher from the Dominican Republic on the field without a warmup jacket and asked Browne to ask the pitcher where the jacket was. Browne yelled to the pitcher in slow English, "He wants to know where your jacket is."