Forrest Vernon “Lefty” Brewer was born in 1917 in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The family later moved to Florida. Brewer was a tall, 6-01 and 165 pound, left-handed pitcher.
September 1938, Jacksonville residents saw this in their local paper. “Forrest “Lefty” Brewer, the Jacksonville high school product opened his professional baseball experience with the St, Augustine Saints, winning 21 and losing ten, pitching a no hit game, now is with the Washington Senators on a look basis for the remainder of the year. He is the fifth southpaw to be connected with the Senators this year. Manager Bucky Harris hasn’t found a spot yet for the youngster, who is considered a bit too green for the majors.”
1938 was a big year for Lefty; he was 25-11 with a 1.88 ERA for St. Augustine, in the Florida League, rated Class D. In 1939 he was 5-4 5.25 ERA with Shelby in the Class D Tar Heel League and 7-11 3.89 ERA with Orlando in the Florida League.
September 1939, from Daytona, John Strothard writes, “Several of the boys have taken this department to task in the last couple of days for framing Lefty Brewer too severely. The point is that the southpaw, who was an ace hurler last year, and has done considerably less than well this season, has been tampered by poor support, and hence his record has suffered. The Orlando Senators are a very poor set of lads to put behind any pitcher with the expectation of seeing that pitcher make a creditable record. It should be said that Brewer got picked on the League’s All Star team.”
In 1940 the twenty-two year old was with Charlotte, making the jump to the Piedmont League, a B league. He had a good year on another poor team, he went 11-9 3.68 ERA. It looked like he would be in the majors in 1941. But in March 1941, he enters the service. His physical ability and emotional stability is such that he is part of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. On 6 June 1944 the unit is given the key assignment of the securing the bridges along the Merderet River and capturing the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. This is a dangerous assignment for the elite airborne unit. They are lightly armed and have to prevent the Germans from moving on to the beaches. The early morning drop, conducted in darkness, goes poorly and the 508th is scattered over a wide area. The soldiers, many in small groups are quickly engaged in fierce combat against overwhelming numbers of German troops. Many brave soldiers died that day, Lefty is one of them.
In doing research you try to get it right, but mistakes do happen. The 6 June 2008 article by Mike Bianchi is a case in point. In his article about Negro League stars who were “drafted’ long ago, he confuses Chet Brewer with Lefty Brewer. Chet Brewer (1907 to 1990) was a highly regarded pitcher in the Negro Leagues. By the way Chet pitched for the 1932 Washington Pilots. Bianchi states “Forrest “Lefty” Brewer was allowed to die for his country, he just wasn’t allowed to play Major League Baseball.” While the statement is not correct, Brewer was white, if that matters, it is a shame that Lefty didn’t get his chance to show what he could do. God bless him.
For more about Lefty Brewer see, http://seamheads.com/2010/06/06/lefty-brewer-a-d-day-hero/
