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Posted By: Matt Goebel

I've always thought that Three-Finger Brown is very underrated by collectors. I know he pitched for some very good Cub teams, but he did post a 2.06 career ERA and it was considerably lower if you throw out his last few years (Federal League, etc). He also had a great winning percentage and many shutouts as well a pitching in some very historically important games. The quote that always sticks with me comes from John McGraw referring to Jose Mendez - "Mendez is better than any pitcher in the National League except Brown and Mathewson, and sometimes I think he's better than Matty". The way I interpret that quote, he ranks Brown ahead of Mathewson, and this is coming from Matty's own manager.