Clip: "Grizzly Bear Rag" by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

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Mordecai Peter Centennial "Three Finger" Brown, above, caught his right hand in a corn grinder when he was seven, and the spin he put on the ball with his mangled hand made him the pitching mainstay of the Cubs' last World Series winner.

"That old paw served me pretty well in its time," he said. "It gave me a firmer grip on the ball, so I could spin it over the hump. It gave me a greater dip."

Here's how he threw the spitball.

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The Chicago Daily News morgue at the Library of Congress' American Memory site has some wonderful old shots of Wrigley Field, which I meant to post this past weekend when the Sox visited the Friendly Confines.

Here's a striking panorama, which served as a backdrop for the '29 pennant winners.

And the "At Home with the Gabby Hartnetts" pics are great fun. Washing dishes * Family pose * At his wedding * Wife, at bat

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Around the Horn

John Cahill links to a story on the disappearance of ballpark organs, replaced with loud rock music and hip hop between innings. Pfeh.

TSO will be interested to know the left-field foul pole at Fenway is now officially Pudge's Pole. They had a naming ceremony before tonight's interleague game with the Reds.

Peter Handrinos at All-Baseball.com lists the eight baseball immortals he'd chuck from the Hall: Chas Comiskey, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Tom Yawkey (!), Gaylord Perry, Ty Cobb, Leo Durocher, Happy Chandler, and Morgan Bulkeley.


How about those Nats? First in war, first in peace – and first in the National League East! Nat Fanatics sings the praises of the Washington nine. Ditto Nasty Nats and Ball Wonk.

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Currently reading: Guys, Dolls and Curveballs, a marvelous Damon Runyan baseball anthology, and, on tape in the car, David McCullough's John Adams, with a description of partisan rancor during the XYZ affair of 1798 that could have been written today.

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The Bear Spirits were invoked this past weekend as my eldest son's Cub Scout troop advanced to Bear Cub status.

The Sox paid a visit to the Cubbies.

And in keeping with the theme, a black bear was reported roaming our area.