About Mordecai Brown:
Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown was an American Major League Baseball pitcher during the first two decades of the 20th century (known as the "Dead-Ball Era"). Due to a farm-machinery accident in his youth (April 17, 1888), Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand, and in the process gained a colorful nickname. He turned this handicap into an advantage by learning how to grip a baseball in a way that resulted in an exceptional curveball, which broke radically before reaching the plate. With this technique he became one of the elite pitchers of his era.