The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-11
THREE FINGER BROWN
 HAD GREAT CAREER

(Copyright, 1913.b Mac1ean Kennedy
 Less than five years ago, if the question was asked "Who is the greatest pitcher in active service?'' six out of ten western fans would have said ''Mordecai Brown In the east six out of ten would have shout ed ''Matty." Be that as it may, the three-f1ngered wonder of the Chicago Cubs was mighty hurler.
 At NyesvilIe, Ind, on October 19, 1878, this pitching prodigy was born. Coming from English and Welsh par mendable traits that characterize those races.
 When a child he playfully put gDis hand in a cutting box; when he withdrew it the index finger was amputated below the second joint, the second finger broken and the thumb and small finger crushed When he grew to be a stout lad he took to baseball, the accident in no way prov ing a handicap; in fact, the way the hand formed in healing made it pos sibIe to grasp the ball in a vice-like grip and later proved to be of great assistance in imparting to the ball an extra rotary motion that made his curves and shoots so famous.
 Mordecai Brown did not start out as a hurIer; he cavorted around third base for a few seasons in his anna teur days. Owing to the peculiar twist he could impart to the ball, he was ao- vised to practice pitching. In throw ing across the diamond the ball would take the most astonishing loops, and this pointed the way.
 He became so proficient in pitching that the Terre Haute club of the Three I league gave him a. trial. So on May $, 1901, Brown hurled his first game of professional baseball. The , Rockford club was the one to fall be- fore his deceptive benders- In fact this raw recruit right from the mines was practically the whole works the first three innings of that game; he struck out five men and had a hand in retiring three more. He won the game. and by his pitching that season
 The Omaha club Of the western league had him in 1902, but the next year he landed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was their etar-if thers could be star on a team that was down at the bottom of the sec ond division
 Chicago secured Brown in a trade the following season. While with Sr. Louis Brown always pitched a gilt edged game against the Cubs, and they had respect for the husky miner. Frank seelee, the manager. did not realize for a minute what a prize he had landed when he made the trade.
 Tn his nine seasons a member of the Cubs he pitched 244 games, win ming III, giving him a percentage of 7O1 In a game against Cincinnati, on September 14. 1909, he retired 27 of the Redland batsmen in order. Three men faced Brown in each in ninng. Although one hit was made, before the chap that made the drive got settled at first he was retired on a double play
 This great twirIer with the maimed wing has bIanked more teams than any other man in baseball. Consider ing the number of games pitched, about every fifth contest he has reg istered a shut-out. In pincnes he Is a worker of wonders This hurler la boring under the Scriptural name is the prince of relief slabmen, and new CT failed to rise to the occasion.
 In that memora ble game on October a 1908. when the Cubs were forced to go all the way to New York to play off the tie game caused by Merkle failing to touch second, before host of a5,OOo maddened fans and after A==A 2z@A.AAs- Eha s'Gtant Killer faf-