Mordecai Brown by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Mordecai Brown

Page 59

pitch. Tinker, Evers, and Chance turned their second double play of the season as the Cubs beat the Reds by a score of 7–3.

On June 30, the Pittsburgh Pirates took first place, as the Cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds. Starting on July 2nd, the Pirates entered a critical five game series against the Cubs. In the first game, Three Finger Brown threw a six hit, no walk shutout, winning the game 3–0. Brown was 10–1 on the season at that point.

The Cubs had taken the first two games of the July series, but the third had slipped away in the late innings, and the Pirates fans; never shy, let the visitors know it. By the time the team boarded the overnight train back toward Chicago, the air still carried the sour tang of beer and cinders from the old Forbes Field neighborhood.

Three Finger Brown was the last man up the steps.

He moved slowly, not from fatigue; though he’d pitched nine victorious innings two days earlier, but because he was listening. He had that habit. While the others clattered aboard, laughing or arguing or complaining about the umpire, Brown paused on the platform, head slightly tilted, as if the rails themselves were speaking.