Mordecai Brown

As Brown's reputation grew, a rivalry brewed with Christy "Matty" Mathewson, the pitcher for the New York Giants. In a now famous game on October 8, 1908, the two opposed each other in a replay for the National League title. It was an error by the Giants' Fred Merkle that had forced the Giants to relinquish an earlier victory on September 23, and both teams were poised for a battle. Brown pitched from early in the first inning of the makeup game, after Jack Pfeister—the Cubs' starting pitcher—allowed one run. By the final inning, Brown had ceded only one run to the Giants during the entire contest. Mathewson, by allowing four runs in the seventh inning, delivered a 4-2 victory to the Cubs. Chicago took home its third consecutive pennant that year.

Brown played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1913. He spent 1914-15 playing for the Federal League, with the St. Louis Terriers and the Brooklyn Feds. He returned to the Cubs for a final season of play in 1916. At the end of that season both he and Mathewson retired simultaneously from major league play after one final dual on September 4. Although Mathewson won that day by a score of 10-8, Brown retired with a career record of 239-130, an ERA of 2.06, and fifty-seven National League shutouts.

Brown was a sturdy man who stood five-feet-teninches tall and weighed 175 pounds. Despite his right-handed pitch, he batted both ways. In retirement he played for two years in the International League, then managed the Terre Haute Three-I team through 1920.

Brown operated a filling station until suffering a stroke in 1945. He died on February 14, 1948. His remains are interred at Rose Lawn Cemetery in Terre Haute.

In 1949 Brown was inducted into the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. His 1.04 season ERA for 1906 stood as the number two all-time record into the twenty-first century. During his career he pitched five complete winning games in the World Series, including the winning game in 1907. In 1908 Brown became the first pitcher to record four consecutive shutouts. Long-time Cubs second-baseman Johnny Evers in discussing Brown with Hall of Fame historian Ernest J. Lanigan said, "You haven't space enough to tell of all the grand deeds of Brownie on and off the field. Plenty of nerve, ability and willingness to work at all times under any conditions.… There never was a finer character-charitable and friendly to his foes and ever willing to help a youngster breaking in." Evers was quoted by Lee Allen and Tom Meany in Kings of the Diamond.