Mining for gold among corn fields.(baseball scout Ellsworth Brown)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Ellsworth Brown is a baseball scout, among the last of his kind.

Raising dust across the Midwest, he figures he has worn out 30 cars since 1946. The latest is a Dodge Intrepid that he says handles well in traffic.

Not that there's much traffic where Brownie goes. He mostly drives through towns hidden between corn fields. "My address? Beason, Illinois, Poverty Row." As to what he's doing: "Got off the road at midnight last night, been out to Iowa, going to Peoria tonight for a Midwest League game."

Such has been the sweet music of a baseball life lived by a man who played with Grover Cleveland Alexander, discovered Bill Madlock, signed Kirby Puckett, and now, 87 years old, beats the bushes for the Twins.

Listen, if you will, to Brownie's music ...

"When I started as a player, you couldn't make any money. Class D ball might promise you $150 a month. But it was 1931 and sometimes they'd pay you and sometimes they'd say, `Get you next month.'

"I was a 5-foot-11, 181-pound first baseman. Good fielder, not much of a hitter. Thing was, I was 17 1/2 years old, and when they told me to report to the Kansas City Triple-A team the next spring, I just went home. I was homesick. Probably a mistake. Should've stayed with it.