Early Years
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Browning was the youngest of eight children. His father, a grocer, was killed by a cyclone when Browning was thirteen years old. Young Pete remained with his mother, ultimately living in the house where he had grown up until the day he died.
He displayed considerable athletic prowess from an early age, and in 1877 began playing for a local semipro team, the Louisville Eclipse, and pitched an exhibition win against a National League team. He continued with the Eclipse into 1882, when the franchise became a member of the newly formed American Association, the first major league to rival the NL.
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