Chet Brewer

A tall right-handed pitcher, Chet Brewer was born in Leavenworth in 1907.  He brought his six-pitch repertoire to the Negro Leagues, as well as China, Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and 44 of the 48 United States.

Brewer’s pitching career spanned 1924 to 1949 and included four stints with the Kansas City Monarchs.  Along with “Bullet” Rogan, he pitched the Monarchs to the first half of the 1926 Negro League championship.  In 1929, he went 17-3 while pitching the Monarchs to the pennant.  He is credited with 127 wins.  Three times he won 30 games in a season against all competition.

In 1935 Brewer joined Satchel Paige in Bismarck, North Dakota on the Corwin Churchill team that came to Wichita and won the inaugural NBC World Series.

After retiring as a player, Brewer became a major league scout and instructor with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1957 to 1974 and later worked with Major League Baseball’s scouting bureau.  He also coached inner city youths in Los Angeles and a field is named In his honor.

Brewer died in 1990.  He was 83 years old.