Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown

Facts about Mordecai Brown

Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown died at 71 years old
Best known as: The hotshot pitcher with a mangled hand

     

Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown Biography

Name at birth: Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown

Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown is the professional baseball player who gained fame for pitching with a mangled hand.

Mordecai Brown was only 7 when he lost part of his right hand to a corn shredder in a farming accident. (Brown actually lost only one finger, the index finger; two others were bent out of shape.) The misfortune turned into an advantage when, as a young man, Brown discovered that his reconfigured hand gave him an excellent grip for throwing curveballs.

Known as “Three Finger” Brown, he became a dominant major league pitcher of the early 20th century, winning 239 games and compiling a remarkably low career ERA of 2.06. He played on the Chicago Cubs championship teams of 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910 — the same Cubs teams which featured the famous Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance double-play combination.

Mordecai Brown was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1949.

Extra credit

According to the Library of Congress, Mordecai Brown was also called “Miner” Brown because “before he was a ballplayer he worked in a coal mine for several years.”


     

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