Phillies’ Brown chose baseball over football

Domonic Brown has 27 home runs for the Phillies. He was named team MVP by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

When September arrives Domonic Brown can’t help but think pigskin. Prior to signing with the Phillies, he passed on football scholarships with Miami, Florida St., South Florida and N.C. State.

The long, muscular Brown was recruited to play wide receiver. But, after he crushed Marlins catcher Jeff Mathis, perhaps Chip Kelly should ask Brown if he wants to play safety for the Eagles.

Brown obliterated Mathis to score one of the Phillies’ 12 runs in a rout of Miami Monday. Did that hit remind Brown of his days on the gridiron?

“Kind of,” Brown said. “No matter what position you play in football, you have to hit somebody.”

After Brown laid out Mathis, trainer Scott Sheridan patted him on the back.

“He said, ‘I thought you were being recruited as a receiver,'” Brown said. “I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to block, too.'”

Brown made a physical statement after noting how embarrassed he was after the Nationals crushed the Phillies Sunday afternoon.

“We have a lot of pride on this team,” Brown said. “We don’t like to get beat like that.”

Brown appears to have his stroke back. He crushed a ball to center that would have gone out during a summer night against Miami.

“I’m feeling really good now,” Brown said. “I’m really looking forward to starting the rest of these games this month. I like what I see from this team. I think things are going to be really interesting next year. We have talent here.”

And Brown doesn’t have any regrets about his career choice.

“Not at all,” Brown said. “I love baseball. If I was playing football, I would be getting clobbered.”

BBWAA gives out awards for 2013 Phillies
The Philadelphia chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America handed out is yearly awards for the Phillies.

Domonic Brown took home the Mike Schmidt Award for Most Valuable Player, while Cliff Lee earned the Steve Carlton Award for Most Valuable Pitcher. Brown received 78 percent of votes. Lee was a unanimous choice.

The association also honored former manager Charlie Manuel with the Dallas Green Award for Special Achievement and Kevin Frandsen won the Tug McGraw Award for True Professionalism.

Players will be honored before Saturday night’s game.