Dana Brown Wife
Have you met Cassandra Brown? She is Dana Brown wife; her husband is the new general manager for the Houston Astros. He previously served as vice president of scouting for the Atlanta Braves, special assistant for the Toronto Blue Jays, director of amateur scouting for the Montreal Expos, and East Coast cross checker for the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he once was a scout and minor league coach.
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Cassandra Brown
Dana Brown Wife, Cassandra Brown, born Cassandra Waters in November 1967, is also from New Jersey, met her husband when they were children, she recalled when they were at an amusement park and Dana, then a sixth grader he told her he would marry her.
It wasn’t until they were in the 11th grade that they started dating, and they have remained together ever since. Cassandra was in vocational school, and Dana played baseball at New Brunswick High, but she could see she was already thriving.
Seton Hall coach Mike Sheppard saw the same thing on Dana Brown, so dropping by to see his momma Shirley Brown was a non-brainier.
Dana Brown and his wife Cassandra are celebrating their 31st wedding anniversary this year, and have two children, Dana Jr. and Autumn Brown.
Dana Brown Family
Dana Allen Brown, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on February 19, 1967, is the 10 of 12 children born to Shirley Brown.
Hailing from Rocky Mount, Va., Shirley Brown spent her weekdays shaping young minds as a preschool teacher. When the weekend rolled around, she traded in her lesson plans for a chef’s hat, cooking up a storm of soul food for Berny’s, a popular local bar in New Brunswick. Shirley’s culinary skills were a family affair, with her daughters playing softball for a team sponsored by Berny’s.
Shirley’s German chocolate cake was legendary among the Berny’s patrons. However, her menu didn’t stop there. She served up a feast of chicken, ribs, collard greens, chitterlings, macaroni and cheese, cornbread and fried fish. To top it all off, her soul cakes and sweet potato pie were the perfect sweet finish to any meal. “I bet you would have loved it,” she says with a certain pride in her voice.
The elder Brown sisters pitched in too, working to help support the family. A sense of responsibility was instilled early in the Brown children, who can recall purchasing their own school clothes by the time they were in their mid-teens. Dana Brown, too, started his first job at the age of 15 through a student work program. His duties were humble – removing used gum from school desks. But he recounts this with a grin, acknowledging the lessons it taught him.
“You see, we didn’t have much,” he reflects. “But we learned the importance of faith and hard work.”
And faith they did have. Every Sunday, you’d find the Brown children at the Tabernacle Baptist Church’s Sunday school. Even today, despite spending over half the year on the road scouting for baseball talent, Dana Brown maintains that church continues to hold a central place in his family’s life.
Dana Brown College Career
When Seton Hall coach Sheppard approached Shirley with the proposal to recruit her son for the baseball team, she was less than enthusiastic.
“I wasn’t keen on the idea,” she recalls. “I had envisioned him getting a job and pursuing education. I needed to have a talk with him because I’ve always wanted my children to make their own decisions about their future once they finish high school.
“I wanted him to be content and happy.”
That very encounter transformed Dana Brown’s life in ways he hadn’t imagined. Though he didn’t make it to the major leagues, his name went down as one of Seton Hall’s most accomplished baseball players.
He was selected for the Big East first-team three times. When he graduated, Brown held the Pirates’ all-time records for games played, runs scored, walks, and at-bats.
His teammates included Hall of Famer Craig Biggio and major league standouts Mo Vaughn and John Valentin. In 2008, he earned a spot in the Seton Hall athletics Hall of Fame.
But what stands out is that he became the first member of his family to earn a college degree.
“I was the first among 12 siblings to obtain a college degree, and it was all thanks to baseball,” he shares. “We couldn’t have afforded college otherwise. I was quite good at baseball during high school. I didn’t have to pay anything, so it was the only way for me to get an education.”
He completed his degree from Seton Hall in 4.5 years. Inspired by him, Brown’s younger brother also graduated from college, becoming the second in the family to do so.
Dana Brown MLB Playing Career
Dana Brown’s short-lived career playing the Major League started in 1989, when the Philadelphia Phillies drafted him with the 35th round, 898 overall selection. He played as an outfielder with the Phillies minor league team; in 280 games he hit .262, stole 82 bases, before advancing as high at Double-A in his final season in 1991.
Dana Brown MLB Executive Career
Brown’s illustrious career also features a notable eight-year term with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he held the positions of area scouting supervisor and East Coast cross-checker.
He then took on the role of Director of Scouting for the Nationals/Expos franchise for close to a decade (2001-09). During this period, over 40 players drafted by the Nationals/Expos made their Major League debut, with seven, including Ian Desmond, Stephen Strasburg, and Ryan Zimmerman, achieving All-Star status.
From 2010 to 2018, Brown was a part of the Toronto Blue Jays organization as a special assistant to the general manager. During this tenure, the Blue Jays bagged an American League East Division title in 2015 and secured a Wild Card spot in 2016. Notably, 2015 marked the Blue Jays’ first postseason appearance since 1993.
In the period from 2019 to 2022, Brown served as the Vice President of Scouting for the Atlanta Braves. In this capacity, he supervised several successful drafts that introduced game-changing players like outfielder Michael Harris, right-handed pitcher Spencer Strider, and infielder Vaughn Grissom to the team. Harris was honored with the National League Rookie of the Year title in 2022, while Strider was a close runner-up.
The Braves’ string of successes in recent years, including five consecutive division titles and a World Series win in 2021, can be largely attributed to their robust farm system. On January 25, 2023, Brown was appointed as the 14th General Manager in the history of the Astros franchise, becoming the second African-American to hold this position, following Bob Watson (1994-95).
