First African American To Hit Home Run in AL Was With the STL Browns

The great Willard Brown, whom some teammates would call "Sonny" because, they said, Willard would only play hard on sunny days. Sonny Brown was the first African American to hit a home run in the American League -- he borrowed a bat from teammate St. Louis Browns teammate Jeff Heath and hit an inside-the-park homer off Hal Newhouser. When Brown returned to the Kansas City Monarchs -- he only played 21 games in the big leagues -- he apparently told Buck that after the home run, Heath broke the bat.