Three Finger

On October 8, 1908, Mordecai Brown clutched a half-dozen notes inside his coat pocket. The message of each was clear: well kill you if you pitch and beat the Giants. A black handprint marked each note, the signature of the Italian Mafia. Mordecai Browndubbed Three Finger because of a childhood farm injurywas the dominant pitcher for the great Chicago Cubs team of the early twentieth century. Browns handicap enabled him to throw pitches with an unconventional movement that left batters bewilderedthe curve ball that Ty Cobb once called the most devastating he had ever faced. How Brown responded to the Mafias 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 track 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 baseballs greatest pitchers and chronicle one mans determination to attain a dream that most believed was unreachable.