Mordecai "Three-Fingers" Brown

"Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown (October 19, 1876 – February 14, 1948), nicknamed 'Three Finger' or 'Miner', was an American Major League Baseball pitcher at the turn of the 20th century. Due to a farm-machinery accident in his youth, Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand and eventually acquired his nickname as a result. Overcoming this handicap and turning it to his advantage, he became one of the elite pitchers of his era. He was known primarily for his exceptional curveball, which broke radically before reaching the plate. ... He learned to pitch, as many children did, by aiming rocks at knotholes on the barn wall and other wooden surfaces. Over time, with constant practice, he developed great control. As a 'bonus', the manner in which he had to grip the ball resulted in an unusual amount of spin. This allowed him to throw an effective curve ball, and a deceptive fast ball and change-up. The extra topspin made it difficult for batters to connect solidly. In short, he 'threw ground balls', and was exceptionally effective."
Wikipedia

"Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown, best known today for his unusual name and his more or less descriptive nickname of 'Three Finger,' was the ace right-hander of the great Chicago Cub teams of the first decade or so of the twentieth century. With Brown leading an extraordinary pitching staff, the Cubs from 1906 through 1910 put together the greatest five-year record of any team in baseball history. His battles with the Giants' Christy Mathewson epitomized the bitter rivalry between two teams that just about matched each other man for man. Brown was born October 19, 1876, in the farming community of Nyesville, Indiana. His parents, Jane (also known as Louisa) and Peter Brown, moved the family from Kentucky to Indiana prior to Mordecai's birth. Because the year of his birth was our country's centennial, Mordecai was given an extra middle name. Although it is generally assumed that the quite religious Browns chose their son's names from the Bible, Peter was his father's name, and there was an uncle named Mordecai. The family claimed to be of Welsh and English descent, but genealogical records indicate there may have been some Cherokee Indian heritage as well."
SABR

"This book is a fitting tribute to a man who was a dominant pitcher of his era, a pitcher who won 20 or more games each year from 1906 to 1911. Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown was born in 1876 in an area of rural Indiana where prospects for employment were farming and coal mining. A few months before his fifth birthday, Brown lost his right index finger, mangled his right middle finger, and had nerve damage to his little finger as a result of an accident with farm equipment. That injury was, of course, the source of his nickname, Three Finger. It is said that he threw rocks at farm outbuildings to learn the throwing accuracy for which he became known. The book devotes two of its seventeen chapters to Brown's childhood and his rise through town teams, semi-pro teams, and the Minor Leagues. Nearly two-thirds of the book covers Brown's Major League career. He broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1903 at the age of twenty-six. From 1904 to 1912 and again in 1916, Brown pitched for the Chicago Cubs. The years 1913 through 1915 were spent with the Cincinnati Reds and three Federal League teams. An emphasis of the book is how Brown helped the powerhouse Cubs teams of 1906 to 1910 win four National League championships and two World Series championships. He was also important in the Chicago Whales Federal League pennant in 1915."
NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture

Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story
"On October 8, 1908, Mordecai Brown clutched a half-dozen notes inside his coat pocket. The message of each was clear: we’ll kill you if you pitch and beat the Giants. A black handprint marked each note, the signature of the Italian Mafia. Mordecai Brown—dubbed 'Three Finger' because of a childhood farm injury—was the dominant pitcher for the great Chicago Cubs team of the early twentieth century. Brown’s handicap enabled him to throw pitches with an unconventional movement that left batters bewildered—the curve ball that Ty Cobb once called 'the most devastating' he had ever faced. How Brown responded to the Mafia’s threats in 1908 mirrored the way he took life in general: with unflappable courage and resolve. Telling his story for the first time, Cindy Thomson and Scott Brown track Mordecai from the Indiana countryside to the coal mines, from semipro ball to the Majors, from the World Series mound back down to the Minors. Along the way they retrieve the lost lore of one of baseball’s greatest pitchers and chronicle one man’s determination to attain a dream that most believed was unreachable."
amazon

The Mordecai Brown