He remembers the first black man -- the only black man -- he metwhile growing up in his all-white Miamisburg surroundings in the1950s and early '60s.
'His name was Brownie. He and my grandfather were friends andthey'd come to my great aunt and uncle's farm in Jefferson Township,'said Farmersville realtor and auctioneer Doug Sorrell. 'Mygrandfather ran the carton division at Sunshine Biscuits and Brownieworked there.
'As I think back to those times and what a unique friendship thatwas, I believe part of their bond was built on baseball.'
Doug said his grandfather -- Art Sorrell -- had been a catcherwith the Dayton Ducks, and his dad, Billy, was drafted by the NewYork Giants before World War II and Philadelphia after it.
Following spring training with the Phillies, Billy was offered aminor league contract by the club and a big ultimatum by hisgirlfriend, Dorla Yoder.
'Mom told him it was either baseball or her,' Doug laughed. 'Theywere married 56 years when he died a couple years ago. He used toalways tease, 'If I'd stuck (with baseball), I might be managing theReds today.'
It was against that baseball background that Doug met Brownie, andthe two often played pitch at the farm.
'He was a pleasant man, but I never knew his full name or anythingabout his past,' Doug said. 'Then I read the story last week aboutRay Brown, the Negro League pitcher going into the Hall of Fame andbeing buried in that unmarked grave (at Green Castle Cemetery) herein Dayton.
'When I saw he worked at Sunshine Biscuits, a light went on.Brownie? Ray Brown? It had to be the same guy. Right then I knew Ihad to do something so he wouldn't be forgotten.'
Many people -- people who care about their fellow man, people wholove baseball, people who have had good things happen to them -- feelthe same way, so Fifth Third Bank has agreed to help. StartingWednesday, each of the bank's 62 branches will begin acceptingdonations to the Ray Brown Memorial Fund.
Back in May, before the groundswell began, Nita Jennings readanother column on Brown and sent money directly to the cemetery whereit's being held.
'I'm just an old lady -- I'm almost 80 -- but I wanted to dosomething because I fell in love with the game when I was a littlegirl.
'My daddy took me to everything. We were very poor, we didn't havea car, but we rode the street car to Ducks Park and other places intown. I remember seeing Satchel Paige, Johnny Vander Meer, FrankMcCormick, a lot of ballplayers here.
'When I was 11, I won a radio contest (Dayton Daily News sportseditor) Si Burick had. It was done like a spelling bee. They'd askthings like what's so-and-so's batting average and I had a lot offacts and figures in my head. For winning I got two ($1.75) ticketsto the All-Star game in Cincinnati and $5. We took the Greyhoundthere, bought a program for 25 cents, ate hot dogs and came home withchange.'
She studied her young-girl penmanship from her line-up card thatday and read off the names of some of the greats she saw: JoeDiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Leo Durocher, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmy Foxx,Joe Cronin, Hack Wilson, Mel Ott, Ernie Lombardi...
'You always remember the great ball players,' she said. 'Ray Brownshould be remembered, too.'
As for Dayton attorney Steve Dankof, his interest in the NegroLeagues was spurred by his son, Steve Jr., who played on the OakwoodHigh School team that won state in 1997.
'His baseball got him to Yale and that got him to law school atOhio State,' said Dankof, whose son just passed the bar and willbegin work with top Dayton attorney Dave Greer.
'A lot of people took an interest in my son along the way, so youdo the same,' Dankof said. 'And for his senior thesis, Steve wroteabout the Negro Leagues. He educated me on the guys left on thefringes, guys like Ray Brown.'
Born in the small Hardin County town of Alger, Brown attendedWilberforce University and played his entire Negro League career withthe Pittsburgh-based Homestead Grays.
A right-hander with a vicious curve, he threw a perfect gameagainst the Chicago American Giants, one-hit Birmingham in the NegroLeague World Series and no-hit the New York Yankees in Puerto Rico.
He led the Grays to eight pennants in nine years, ended up secondin the Negro Leagues' lifetime winning percentage, fifth in victoriesand was just as big a star in Cuba and is in its Hall of Fame.
On July 4, 1935, he married Ethel Posey -- daughter of Grays'owner Cum Posey -- in a ceremony at home plate. Although that unionwould eventually end in divorce -- Brown would go on to Canada andeventually settle in Dayton from the mid-1950s until his death in1965 -- it did produce one child, Truman Posey Brown, who is now 64,mentally handicapped and lives near Pittsburgh. Ethel died severalyears ago.
At last Sunday's Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown, where CumPosey also was enshrined, Truman was escorted onto the stage bycousin Michael Flagg and accepted his dad's award.
Another cousin in attendance, Nancy Boxill, a Fulton County (Ga.)commissioner, said she'd heard family stories of Ray Brown, but hadnever known him and had no idea he was buried in Dayton in anunmarked grave. Once she heard how the community is responding, shesaid she hopes the family can join the effort:
'It sounds like people there really want to do something special.'
She's right and Dankof, like many of us, thinks this effort couldbe something people in the community could be proud of.
From the people who already have asked to take part -- thosemaking financial pledges to a guy who'd like to help the cashstrappedcemetery keep the grass mowed around Brown's grave -- I've heardplenty of stories of neighborly embrace and love of baseball.
And that reminded me of something Nita Jennings said as shegleefully recounted that contest she won so many years ago,
'Just a little girl beating all those folks,' she laughed, 'I wasquite the talk of the town back then.... That's probably my bestbaseball moment.'
Until now.
