Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story

Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story
by Cindy Thomson, Scott Brown

Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story
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Book Summary Information

Author: Cindy Thomson, Scott Brown
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-01
ISBN: 0803244487
Number of pages: 264
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Book Reviews of Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story

Book Review: Fianlly Three Finger gets his due
Summary: 5 Stars

It took longer than it should have for a bio of this early twentieth century top pitcher to be written, considering some of the baseball bios that have been produced. Perhaps the greatest Cub pitcher ever, Mordecai Brown was also a kind, good man. This book provides good insight into his life, and some photos never before published. If anything, it could have used a bit more detail on his pitching, at least in regular season games. But we are treated to detail on some of the famous Mathewson-Brown match-ups (Brown won the career duel), and the World series appearances.

Brown is the hero, but his success and abilities are underplayed, if anything. That's a relief next to several current books about players whose authors are trying to get them into the Hall of Fame. A pleasurable, easy read. The baseball stats are reliable except in one instance where the authors must have had a petite mal seizure. Page 78 states that Brown's 213 innings pitched in 1908 were "more than any other single year in his career." The number is a typo for 312, but anyway, as the authors later note, Brown pitched 343 innings the following year. But not to worry, this is a unique lapse, and pointed out here only to help readers, or correct any future edition. Thanks for this book!

Summary of 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, a team that from 1906 through 1910 was arguably the best in baseball history. 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 trail 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 reach a dream that most believed was unreachable.

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