Mordecai Brown by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Mordecai Brown

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nephew, Fred Massey, John was as good as Mordecai though he never played above the semipro level because he didn’t apply himself.

Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown started his professional baseball career later than most because he spent his early adulthood working in the coal mines of western Indiana rather than playing organized pro ball. The modern mind might not understand this, but back then playing pro baseball was a longshot, and didn’t pay extraordinarily well, except for a handful. His mining work, it’s good economics at the time, coupled with being a part time farmer, along with recovering from the severe childhood hand injury that gave him his famous nickname, delayed his entry into the professional ranks. He didn't reach the major leagues until age 26, which was considered late even in the early 1900s.

Brown grew up in Nyesville, Indiana and worked in local coal mines before pursuing baseball seriously. This labor intensive work occupied the years when many future pros were already in minor leagues.

In 1876 approximately 600 people lived there. Wages were high. The coal sold at $1.25 a ton and the miners were well paid. These early miners were men of much higher intelligence than those employed in large mining industries today. They lived and