Bronx, New York born Dermal “Dee” Brown was a multi-sports standout at Marlboro Central High School in Marlboro, NY. After piling up the second most rushing yards in New York high school history and hitting nearly .500 during baseball season, Brown committed to playing both baseball and football at the University of Maryland.
In the meantime, the Kansas City Royals made him the 14th overall pick in the 1996 MLB Draft. In a last minute decision, Brown decided to forgo the college experience and focus on baseball and start his career in the Royals farm system.
After playing parts of seven seasons with the franchise, he was traded to Oakland in 2007, he also spent time in the minors with the Angels and Dodgers before signing with the Saitama Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Brown spent two seasons playing in Japan before retiring in 2011.
A highly rated prospect that could combine speed and power as well as anyone in his draft class, Brown’s career never fully took off due to injuries and other setbacks.
Now 45, he now spends time working with youth baseball players as the owner and instructor of Dee Brown Baseball, Helping young players attain college athletic and academic opportunities. And no, he’s not related to Dee Brown the basketball player.
In our most recent interview, we catch up with the well traveled Brown to discuss his most memorable baseball cards, his missing autographed bat collection, and much more.
Tony Reid-Your rookie cards appeared in 1997 in a number of Bowman and Topps products. With 353 total cards produced, do you remember seeing yourself on a card for the first time?
Dee Brown-I remember taking the picture. It was some time in 1997. I was in Fort Myers, Florida over at the Twins or Red Sox complex. They take a bunch of pictures but I remember my first card. I shared it with Eric Milton. There was a Bowman that was me by myself. Eric Milton and I had the same agent. I remember him telling me I had a card. I remember physically seeing that Topps card and thinking ‘Damn, I’m on a Topps card. That’s crazy!’ I still have them. I damn sure don’t have 353 cards. You told me about that. That is a crazy number right there!
Fun fact–I don’t know how fun it is–but my last year I played in the states was ’09. We were Triple A with the Dodgers at the time. It was all big leaguers that were up and down. We had Tanyon Sturtze, Jeff Weaver and guys like that. Eric was in that team for a little bit. I faced Eric over the years and we knew each other. We weren’t close friends but it was a funny, full circle moment 12 years later we were on a Triple A team together looking to get back up.
TR–Who inspired and influenced you as a young multi-sport ball player?
DB-Oh, man. Bo Jackson was number one. I got different tiers. I really loved Bo and Deion (Sanders) because I wanted to be them. My favorite baseball player was Dave Winfield. My favorite all time athlete was Michael Jordan. All of them share their space with me for different reasons. I wasn’t going to play in the NBA but I loved everything about Jordan. I was a Bulls fan. Dave was my guy. When I first started watching baseball and going to Yankees games he was playing right field. You relate to guys that look like you, so there was the black thing. My mother used to have a little crush on him. As far as the people I wanted to be like it was Deion and Bo. Those are my guys.
TR–When was the first time someone approached you and asked for your autograph?
DB-I was signing autographs before I was a professional. Around my town up in Marlboro right when I was about to graduate and when got drafted it was sign this and take a picture and all of that. I remember September of my senior year in English class practicing my signature. As a professional, my first autograph I signed was probably in Florida in the instructional league or the GCL with those card guys. There are only about five people at those games anyway.
TR–With your long career in the majors and overseas, did you collect and keep any of your own memorabilia?
DB– It’s funny, at my parents’ home, my dad has a little trophy or memorabilia area. He has my Oakland A’s jersey. I only played for them for a hot minute. He has a Royals jersey. He has my high school jerseys. I just got a text from my high school football coach. He said he wanted to send my jerseys to me. It’s my fault. They have been asking me for years. They retired my number on the field in baseball. I wasn’t there to do it. In football, they officially unofficially retired my number there, too. I had the same number for both sports, it was number 27. He is sending me my jerseys. In my home, I just have one of Royals jerseys. As far as balls, the trophies, the newspaper clippings, the Baseball America stuff, the videos, it’s all at my parents’ house. They have a little den that my father made into a trophy room.
TR–If you could go back to your career and do a jersey swap with anyone, who would you choose and why?
DB-It’s crazy you are talking about this. I was literally just talking about his on Friday. I was talking to (former big leaguer) Roger Cedeno. We were talking about Albert Pujols. I was telling him my Pujols story. He and Pujols are still tight. They played together. I told him the story about how way back in the minor leagues, me and Pujols had the same rookie class. We ended up signing bats. When I tell you I had a bat collection is was (Mike) Piazza, Roberto Alomar, his last spring training with the Rays. I was with him. I knew Roberto. I had Carlos Beltran. I mean, names, man. I never had jerseys. I was one of these prideful guys. The only person that I am mad that I didn’t get a jersey signed by was Cal Ripken.
He was doing his farewell tour. I think it was 2001. After every game everybody was getting his jerseys. I didn’t want to be a pain. I remember Joe Randa, Mike Sweeney, all of my teammates at the Royals were getting jerseys. They did like a pre-series preorder. Who’s going to want a jersey signed by Cal Ripken? I didn’t even have a house then. I was a rookie. I didn’t want to haul the jersey around. I like Cal but he wasn’t my guy like that. Looking back now. It’s like damn, why didn’t I just go ahead and get one? I don’t have any regrets on any jerseys I didn’t get. I know these guys and I have my stories. I could have gotten Derek Jeter. He signed a ball for my fifth grade teacher’s daughter who was in love with him. We had the same agent.
I’m mad about those bats, though. They got stolen. I moved. I had my house in Arizona. I sold the home and I moved. It was right before I went to Japan. I think I know who did it. I paid one of my boys’ people. Basically it was pack all of my stuff and ship it to Florida. I didn’t see the move. They made the move. All of a sudden, magically, I had about two dozen bats of high level guys that were gone. I didn’t get a chance to go to my storage unit until the next year.
I was more of a bat signing guy. I started doing that toward the end of my career. I knew I needed to start doing something. I had a Sosa bat. I had a Rafael Palmeiro bat. I had a Tino Martinez bat. He signed one for me. It was guys whose strokes I liked for whatever reason. Somebody, they probably have been on eBay. Those bats are somewhere.
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