Did 3 finger brown have the best curve ball ever due to his amputated finger?

Question

Just what kind of action can half a finger help a pitcher put on a baseball?

Answer 1

Whether or not Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown had the best curve ball ever is up to debate, but there is no doubt that he was one of the most formidable pitchers of his era.

One of the greatest contact hitters of all time, Ty Cobb, said this about Brown's breaking pitch: "It was the most devastating pitch I ever faced."

Of the effect of his 'disfigurement' on the action of his curve ball, Brown himself said, "That old paw served me pretty well in its time. It gave me a firmer grip on the ball, so I could spin it over the hump. It gave me a greater dip."

Answer 2

Hard to say -- Blyleven's curve was amazing, and there was nothing wrong with his hand -- but Bobby Ojeda severed part of a finger on his pitching hand (left) in a gardening accident in 1988. It was reattached, and he had to miss the postseason while recovering, but he claimed it improved the snap on his curve later.

Rough life for Ojeda. He was the survivor of the 1993 boating accident in spring training that took Olin and Crews.