Mordecai Brown lost most of his right index finger in a piece of farming equipment. Not long after, he fell while chasing a rabbit and broke his other fingers. The result was a bent middle finger, a paralyzed little finger, and a stump where the index finger used to be.
Mordecai led the Terre Haute Tots to the first ever Three-I Championship, posting a 23-8 record. Mordecai joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 1903. After joining the Cubs in 1904, Mordecai's record was 15-10 and his ERA was 1.86. Brown still holds the Cubs record for most shutouts, since 1900, with 48 and lowest career ERA of 1.80. In addition, Brown is the Cubs record holder for most wins a single season, with 29, in 1908. Another record He holds for the Cubs is the lowest ERA in a single season, with 1.04, in 1906. Mordecai's greatest years was with the Cubs from 1904 to 1912. He won 186 games and had six straight seasons, from 1905 to 1910, while posting 20 or more wins. During that time he led the Cubs to two World Series Championships.
His best year was 1906 when his winning percentage was .813. He pitched nine shutouts that year, and his 1.04 ERA is baseball's third best in a single season. The Cubs won a remarkable 116 games in 1906 but lost the World Series to their cross-town rival, the White Sox.
In 1919, Brown went back to Terre Haute to manage his former semipro team. Mordecai later owned and operated a gas station in Terre Haute.
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