Mordecai Brown Marquee Hall of Fame 1949

He won twenty games in each of six consecutive seasons for the Cubs, from 1906 through 1911. The first was 26-6, with a 1.04 earned run average and a league-best nine shutouts. In 1908 he went 29-9, and in 1909 he won 27 and completed 32 games.

A feed cutter on the farm did it, and a fall soon after broke the fingers that were left. The grip he was stuck with is where the curveball came from. He also closed games for the Cubs: in 1909 he appeared in 50 while starting 34, and he led the National League in saves four years running, in a role that had no name yet.

He came out of the bullpen at the Polo Grounds for the 1908 replay of the Merkle game and beat Christy Mathewson, and the Cubs went on to win the World Series. He finished 239-130 with 55 shutouts and a 2.06 earned run average, third-lowest among pitchers with 2,000 innings here. The Hall of Fame elected him in 1949, a year after he died.