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'Three Finger' Brown
Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown
Born: Oct. 19, 1876 in Nyesville, Indiana
Died: Feb. 14, 1948, Terre Haute, Indiana
Debut: 1903 | Pos: P
Ht: 5'10" | Wt: 175 | B: B | T: R
| YRS | G | IP | W | L | SV | SO | ERA |
| 14 | 481 | 3172.1 | 239 | 130 | 49 | 1375 | 2.06 |
>> Visit the Mordecai Brown biography on Baseball Almanac for complete statistics.
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown was one of the stars of the early years of major league baseball. His career totals included 239 wins, a 2.06 ERA and 55 shutouts.
From
1906 to 1911, he won at least 20 games a season and in 1909, he led the
league with 27 wins. He was key part of the Cubs pennant-winning teams in
1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910. In 1906, as a part of the Chicago team that set a
league record for victories in a season, Brown was 26-6 in 277.1 innings. He
led the league with a 1.04 ERA, the National League record, and 9 shutouts.
Even with his success as a starter, Brown was also used as a reliever and led the league twice in saves.
Brown's career included stints with the Cardinals (1903), the Cubs (1904-1912), the Reds (1913), the Brooklyn Tip-Tops (1914), the St. Louis Terriers (1914), the Chicago Whales (1915), and the Cubs (1916).
In 1913, Chicago Cubs owner Charles Murphy sold Brown to the minor league team in Louisville. His contract was purchased by the Reds. He played in the Federal League for two years in 1914 and 1915 and finished out his career with the Cubs in 1916.
He was nicknamed "Three Finger" for the result of two accidents with a corn shredder when he was a child. He lost part of his index finger and broke two other fingers.
Brown pitched 57.2 innings in four World Series finishing with a 5-4 record and a 2.81 ERA. The Cubs won the series in two of his four trips -- 1907 and 1908.
He hit .206 in his career with 2 home runs and 74 RBIs.
Brown's chief rival during his career was Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson and they faced each other 25 times in their career. Mathewson and Brown agreed to end their careers in the same game on Sept. 4, 1916. Mathewson, manager of the Reds at the time, won the game 10-8. Between them the two Hall of Famers gave up 34 hits.
Brown was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949 by the Committee on Baseball Veterans.
See Also: 1906 Chicago Cubs | Federal League | Christy Mathewson