Mordecai Brown by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Mordecai Brown
Page 30
Dynasty Start
When Brown joined the Cubs he was already 27 years old, the same age as his manager, Frank Chance, and older than most of his fellow players. After joining in 1904, Brown improved his record to 15-10 and lowered his ERA to 1.86; third best in the league to Joe NcBinnuty’s leading 1.61; and ahead of Christy Mathewson’s best to date of 2.03.
The Cubs moved into the National League’s second place, finishing at 93-60, .608, but 13 games behind the Giants, though they were even at 11-11-2 for their season series.
The Game in the Fog
The morning fog off Lake Michigan had rolled in thick as wool, the kind that swallowed buildings whole and made the streetcars clang their bells like lost cattle. Mordecai Brown stepped off at Polk Street with his glove tucked under his arm, the leather soft from years of working it with his good hand and the crooked one alike. He was still new enough to Chicago that the city felt like a test; bigger, louder, more impatient than Terre Haute or St. Louis. But he liked that it didn’t care who he’d been. Only what he could do today.