Mordecai Brown

[dstraate]

Half the fingers of Antonio Alfonseca, ten times the wins.

[PolarBear]

I've read his biography. Nothing special but a good read. He was a decent guy and there weren't that many in early sports just like there aren't that many today. He's one of my favorite players of the era, maybe my favorite, and an underrated HOFer.

Here's an excerpt from his biography, as quoted on his wikipedia page:

"According to his biography, he suffered two separate injuries to his right hand. The first and most famous trauma came when he was feeding material into the farm's feed chopper. He slipped and his hand was mangled by the knives, severing much of his index finger and damaging the others. A doctor repaired the rest of his hand as best he could. While it was still healing, the injury was further aggravated by a fall he took, which broke several finger bones. They were not re-set properly, especially the middle finger."

[greenmonster66]

Pretty amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzkyW7WcybU

[ls7plus]

I agree with Don--the biography from 2006 or 2007 is a pretty good read, and also has some good photos. He was apparently a pretty good guy, and I already knew he wasone helluva pitcher! Cobb said Mordecai's curveball was the best he ever saw.

Larry

[Piratedogcardshows]

Cant teach the rotation he threw with.Great pitcher and inspiration to others

[DixieBaseball]

Thanks for the info on Brown's hand. I can't imagine the English he would put on a ball, but I am guessing it would be like a Fork ball / Splitter action. Would love to see the rotation on his pitches with today's technology. Perhaps there is some old footage of him out there somewhere that might at the very least show the trajectory. Interesting...

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by greenmonster66

Pretty amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzkyW7WcybU

Wow! He really whipped that ball back and let loose. Thanks for the link.

[ls7plus]

He really did whip it in there--always wondered what kind of fastball he had, and judging by his apparent arm velocity, it might have been pretty darn good. Yes, thank you much for the link!

Larry