December 12, 1903: The St. Louis Cardinals trade pitcher Mordecai Brown and catcher Jack O'Neill to the Chicago Cubs, for pitcher Jack Taylor and catcher Larry McLean.
Taylor had gone 88-82 for the Cubs, including 42-25 the last 2 seasons. In 1902, he led the National League with a 1.29 ERA. So it looked like the Cardinals were getting a good pitcher in the deal. But he only went 43-49 for them in 2 1/2 seasons, and then they traded him back to the Cubs, where he helped them win NL Pennants in 1906 and 1907. He finished his career 109-90.
McLean played just 22 games for the Cardinals, and later became the starting catcher for the Cincinnati Reds from 1907 to 1912. In 1913, he was re-acquired by the Cards, but, midway through the season, they traded him to the New York Giants, and helped them win the National League Pennant.
O'Neill was a throw-in. For the Cubs, the key was Brown. Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown in full. "Mordecai" or "Mort" for his uncle, "Peter" for his father, "Centennial" because he was born in 1876, America's Centennial year, in Nyesville, Indiana.
He had two separate injuries to his right hand. The first and more famous trauma came when he was feeding material into the farm's feed chopper. He slipped and his hand was mangled by the knives, severing much of his index finger, and damaging the others. A doctor repaired the rest of his hand as best he could.
While it was still healing, the injury was further aggravated by a fall he took, which broke several finger bones. They were not reset properly, especially the middle finger. Not only did this not stop him from playing baseball, it made him a more effective pitcher: It forced him to throw what would now be called a "knuckle curve," and it curved in such a way that hardly anybody could hit it. He also developed an excellent changeup.
And so, known as "Three-Finger" Brown (or "Three-Fingered"), or "Miner" Brown, for his off-season profession, or "Brownie" to his friends, reached the major leagues in 1903, going 9-13 with a 2.60 ERA for a Cardinal team that went 43-94. They thought the more seasoned Taylor would help them. Not much, he didn't.
In contrast, Brown helped the Cubs get back into contention. They were led by first baseman and manager Frank Chance, 2nd baseman Johnny Evers, and shortstop Joe Tinker. On a staff with Ed Reulbach, Jack Pfeister, Orval Overall and Chick Fraser, he helped them win the Pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910; winning the World Series in 1907 and 1908. (The crosstown Chicago White Sox beat them in 1906, the Pittsburgh Pirates won the Pennant in 1909, and the Cubs lost the 1910 World Series to the team that replaced them as the sport's dynastic team, the Philadelphia Athletics.)
In 1906, Brown went 26-6 with a 1.04 ERA, the 2nd-lowest in the 20th Century. (Bob Gibson's 1.12 in 1968 is the lowest in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era.) He went 20-6 with 1.39 in 1907, 29-9 with 1.47 in 1908, 27-9 with 1.31 in 1909, and 25-14 with 1.89 in 1910. Lest you think he was just feasting on the pitching-friendly conditions of the Dead Ball Era, here are his ERA+ ratings for those seasons, remembering that the average is 100, and the higher, the better: 253, 178, 160, 193 and 153.
He became known for his pitching duels with the Giants' Christy Mathewson. They faced each other 26 times, and Brown won 13 of them. What turned out to be the last major league appearance for each of them was on September 4, 1916, in the 2nd game of a Labor Day Doubleheader. The Cubs hosted the Cincinnati Reds, whom Mathewson had joined that season, at Weeghman Park, later to be known as Wrigley Field. Both teams were well out of the race, so it didn't matter that they stayed in the game despite each allowing a lot of runs: It kept fans in the ballpark, buying more food. The Reds, and Mathewson, won, 10-8.
Brown finished with a career record of 239-130, a 2.06 ERA, a 138 ERA+, and a 1.066 WHIP. Not that anyone knew what they were at the time, but he also had 49 career saves, leading the NL in them 4 times in a row.
Following his retirement from the majors, he ran a gas station in Terre Haute, Indiana, and coached local amateur teams. In an exhibition game against the famous House of David touring team in 1928, at the age of 51, he pitched 3 innings as a favor to the local team, and struck out all 9 batters he faced.
He suffered from diabetes, and died in 1948, 71. The next year, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Waiting until he was dead wasn't particularly an insult: Before him, there had been only 13 pitchers elected, and only 7 through the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The other 6, like Brown, were elected through the Veterans' Committee. He joined his Cub teammates, Tinker, Evers and Chance, who were elected as a unit 3 years earlier. A museum dedicated to Brown now stands on Nyesville Road in Rockville, Indiana, a short walk from Nyesville itself.
So when the Cardinals traded him away, they traded away a Hall-of-Famer who won 4 Pennants, and got back little in return. It's a trade nearly as bad as the one they made 68 years later, sending Steve Carlton to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Wise.
But they did get revenge on the Cubs, after 60 years: They sent the Cubs pitcher Ernie Broglio, who looked like just what the Cubs needed, but was hurt, and did little for them, for Lou Brock, for whom the Cubs seemed to have no use, but was just what the Cards needed.
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December 12, 1903 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Professional basketball and hockey barely existed. There was one college football game played that day: The University of New Hampshire beat Tufts College (which became Tufts University in 1954), 6-0 at Central Park in Dover, New Hampshire.
And in a match in English soccer's FA Cup, Woolwich Arsenal and Bristol Rovers played to a draw, 1-1 at Eastville Stadium, in Eastville, outside Bristol, in the West Country of England. A replay was held 4 days later, at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South-East London, and Arsenal won, 1-0. They were knocked out 2 years later, but gained promotion from the Football League's Division Two to its Division One.
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