Dustin William Brown was born on the June 19, 1982 in Orange, California. He grew up however, in Prescott, Arizona, attending Bradshaw Mountain High School and Yavapai Community College. Although “Dusty” was drafted right out of high school in the 35th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft, he stayed at Yavapai until May of 2001 when he joined the team that had drafted him, the Boston Red Sox.

Dusty Brown spent his first season with the Gulf Coast League Red Sox at the Boston Red Sox Player Development Complex in Fort Meyers, Florida. His debut with the minor leaguers was on June 19, 2001 when he went 3-for-4 against the Twins, belting a double and scoring twice. He spent most of the following year in the Gulf Coast League, capping his season off by being voted Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year and being promoted to the Lowell Spinners in the New York – Penn League. Brown spent the next several years playing in different minor league divisions for Red Sox affiliates until making his major league debut on June 23, 2009 against the Washington nationals. Though he started as catcher, he did not get an at-bat in the game. His first major league at bat was on September 9, 2009 when he lined into a bases-loaded inning-ending double play against the Baltimore Orioles after which it was back to the minors.

Brown's contract was purchased by the Red Sox from Pawtucket on November 29, 2007. Had the Red Sox not placed him on the 40-man roster, Dusty Brown would have become a minor league free agent. In seven Minor League seasons, Brown hit 26 home runs while posting a career average of .257.

Dusty Brown saw his first Major League action in 2009 in 6 games over two stints with the Red Sox. When pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was put on the disabled list on June 21, Brown was recalled from Pawtucket. He would only get three at-bats in his six games with the Sox, managing just one hit - a home run over the Green Monster against Cleveland off of Mike Gosling on October 3. In hitting that home-run, Brown contributed to setting a franchise record that year, being the 24th player on the Red Sox roster to hit a home run in the season.

An interesting bit of trivia regarding Dusty Brown is that he obtained his first strike out as a pitcher before his first hit as a catcher! Incredibly, on September 30, 2009 Brown was called out in the 9th inning to pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the day after the Red Sox clinched the AL Wild Card and the Sox were routing the Jays, but Brown enjoyed the distinction of becoming the first catcher in Red Sox history to pitch for his team.

Up until 2008, Dusty Brown spent his season rotating between Single A, Double A and Triple A teams. The 2008 season saw him break that trend, and he spent the entire year with triple A Pawtucket. Rising to the occasion, Brown set career highs in various statistical categories, including; most at-bats (297), 86 hits, 55 RBI, walked 40 times, and amassed a .471 slugging percentage covering 140 total bases. He smacked 12 home runs, 2 triples, and 14 doubles while doing so with an on-base-percentage of .377. Defensively he played well also, appearing 70 times behind the plate and throwing out 27 percent of base stealers. He had 494 put-outs out of 555 defensive chances, committed only 8 errors and turned 3 double-plays while amassing a fielding percentage of .985.

The Pawtucket Red Sox made the play-offs that season, though his performance wasn’t stellar; he went 1-for-9 in their 2 post season outings. Pawtucket’s post season spell was ended by the Scranton/Wilkes-BarreYankees, losing the 5 game series 3 games to 1. At season’s end Dusty Brown was again invited to Major League Spring Training Camp, having been done so the previous year.

Dusty Brown played for the Azucareros del Este of the Dominican Winter League, batting .220 (28-for-127) with one homer and 19 RBI.

Dusty Brown is an example of dedication and perseverance. Unable to crack the Red Sox 40-man roster for the first seven years of his career Brown never gave up. Finally after a long and determined effort, and fighting off several career-threatening injuries, his Major league dreams were realized in 2009. With JasonVaritek and Doug Mirabelli ahead of him, it would be understandable if he gave up, or wanted to be traded. But Brown is a Red Sox through and through and his attitude is one of hunger and humility. Brown spoke about his struggle with Mike Petraglia of MLB.com: "It was frustrating early on," Brown said. "I thought maybe I might never make it and I might never stay healthy. But now, it's to the point where I know I'm just a phone call away and I just have to keep pushing and when my time comes, hopefully, I'll still be around." http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080221&content_id=2383272&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos