Did a sixth finger make this pitcher better? | The Annex Podcast Segment

[@SecretBaseSBN]

some of y'all might've gotten a thumbnail that looks a bit different for this video than what you're used to. youtube started finally offering A/B testing of thumbs, so for some videos/series/projects, we're going to experiment a bit to see what does or doesn't work. figured it's worth being open about. smell ya later

[@JonathanCabot]

thank you for the explaination i was gonna write you a sternly worded email expressing my dissappointment in the thumbnail variation

[@deinemudder3066]

being open is always the right way. figure in these times good things have to be honored more. so as a german (we don't do positive reinforcement): well done, keep at it!

[@adamcoe]

I read that really fast and I thought you were talking about Google offering some kind of testing on human thumbs for people with 12 fingers

[@williamhowland9977]

Now I feel left out knowing there’s another thumbnail that I didn’t get to see. I was better in the bliss of my ignorance…

[@kaibolaris360]

8:56 😢😢🎉😅😢😅

[@connercoughran4677]

Amazing that Alfonseca was able to make it to the MLB considering he had Indigo Montoya looking for him for 20 years

[@cgerdsxvi]

I need a link in this story. I’m intrigued

[@connercoughran4677]

“The Princess Bride” - damn good movie, check it out

[@OhJustSomeRandomGuy]

The Onion did a great article on this guy back in the day.
Antonio Alfonseca Once Again Leads Major-League Relievers In Fingers
"Antonio has been through a lot this season, including some elbow problems and a trip to the DL," manager Jack McKeon said. "But in the end, he just went out there and had a lot of fingers."

[@hiimemily]

I played some games in MLB 07: The Show with the Phillies, where he was a reliever playing his last season, and unfortunately I can confirm that San Diego Studio didn't model him with six fingers. Damn shame.

[@mattygee79]

The game has been on a decline since then. That’s what happens when you start slacking on the little details.

[@cgerdsxvi]

@@mattygee79have you ever been a game programmer graphic designer or anything close to it?

[@mattygee79]

@@cgerdsxvi you have no sense of humor

[@ababilashari9970]

@@cgerdsxvi its a joke

[@TheGyrocop]

Assuming that the finger is as usable and strong as the other ones, the best sport for having an extra finger has to be rock-climbing or something. You could really use the extra grip.

[@dk240996]

I wonder if they would be barred from using the extra finger in professional arm wrestling.

[@oogagoogaboo]

You would think, but look up Tommy Caldwell. One of the greatest climbers of all time and he accidentally cut his index finger off with a table saw in his prime. Went on to climb much harder stuff afterwards including the hardest route in America.

[@psymar]

People also claimed that Mordecai Brown's injury helped him pitch; there's some thought that the stub of a fourth finger he had put a slightly different spin on the ball and that's why his curveball was so unhittable. Dude was one of the best pitchers ever. The Giants manager said maybe they needed to go out and find a pitcher with 2 fingers!

[@raylreyesf]

El pulpo means octopus, he had a lot of fingers just like these animals have a lot of tentacles. He is a beloved figure here in DR.

[@SICKBOYONYT]

Just happy to see Jon Bois again

[@blesstherebel]

The excited in-unison "How many fingers did HE have?!" flipping got me! 😂

[@chesthoIe]

Mordecai Brown lost 2 fingers in a mechanized farm equipment accident back when there were protests against mechanized farm equipment. I don't know if he could use the stubs as like rocket engines, or if they were for spin or what, but his new hand smoked. He made it to Cooperstown.

[@sabremarky15]

I remember him! He was on the @Cubs.
Also this was the same team to employ Mordecai "3-finger" Brown. So in combination of both players they have an average of 10 fingers!

[@psymar]

I believe three-finger brown had like 8½ fingers, one was missing entirely but another was just missing part, and I believe the nickname wasn't counting the thumb

[@BruGaI]

@@psymar you're right. there are photos of Mordecai Brown's hand in his Wikipedia page

[@bmac4]

Polydactyly rarely results in a finger that can actually be manipulated. Usually its just an extra mass. So I imagine wouldn't be an advantage beyond maybe altering the center of mass on the hand.
Also Yogi Berra coulda had 11 or 12, he won 2 pennants aas a manager!

[@user-jd5zt4of8q]

In cricket this could be great for a wristspinner or an offcutter bowler which would allow him to make the ball spin both ways

[@Nerd_of_Anarchy]

2:14 Only God has 5 fingers on the Simpsons

[@brandonkelly8126]

A certain Spaniard is looking for Alfonseca

[@jamesesterline]

MLB Power Pros legend Antonio Alfonseca

[@alexanderflowers9295]

Thank you! Thought I was the only one who is still baffled by Way of Wade!

[@donaldtNS]

You talk about lack of imagination in baseball nicknames - my favorite old-timey baseball nickname is "Death to Flying Things". I was today years old when I found out Dave Niehaus dusted it off in the late 2000s for Franklin Gutierrez.

[@user-jd5zt4of8q]

The funny thing is that in cricket it actually could show a change... You put the 6th finger on the seam and allow yourself a better doosra

[@tommykl]

man, imagine if garry sobers kept his extra fingers

[@jeffgoodsmith6002]

My first job was as a 16 year old usher for the Cubs during his season. He was one of the only players I actually met and talked to while there (though I got to get a "hey how are ya" from Ron Santo). But I did get to meet and shake the hand of Alfonseca. And yes. The finger....it closed on the handshake

[@jessefrost6730]

Thank you,Jon I’ve been harboring the same stupid thoughts about the correct way to throw up curveball from back when I was young and when I got old enough to understand that I was an idiot I’ve just never brought it up. You’re bringing awareness to group that very much needs it.

[@BBall0027]

11:06 I'm glad NBA Live 2003 came out when it did. All of the "lizard person" conspiracies about Jason Kidd from that cover.
(If you don't know, one of Jason Kidd's fingers is hidden behind one of the others in the picture on the cover so it looks like he has only four fingers on his left hand)

[@ronch182]

I remember a kid in school that also had the extra digit. It was completely useless, if anything it encumbered him sometimes. It was such a small numb and didn't even have bone growing inside of it so he couldn't control it.

[@dylanjoyce1404]

Hey this is awesome- I WHOLEHEARTEDLY support the endeavors of the hosts/video voice staff and the general staff of your channel. There needs to be an easier way to access this specific show outside of patreon. To get it where it deserves to be, it deserves to be heard outside of patreon.

[@adamcoe]

lol also definitely didn't have "Carmelo Anthony is a lizard person" on my bingo card today

[@itiscujo]

Insert Princess Bride joke

[@danielkushner5963]

The audio balancing on this was absolutely terrible. But I loved the conversation!

[@janamal6523]

Six fingers crazy

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

Yogi Berra has 10 World Series rings. He could wear them in all his fingers. If he win any more, he'd need extra fingers.

[@owenschnitzler9340]

He won 3 more as a coach.

[@stephen9281]

He had a picture in the paper when I was growing up in Jupiter and my mom showed it to me and I didn't notice. He had all fingers front and center and he was holding to baseballs.

[@RoomShambles23]

Close enough... welcome back That's Weird 😌

[@serisothikos]

Feeling unduly proud of myself for knowing that Yogi Berra fact.

[@XCellNoah]

3-fingers Brown definitely benefitted from his deformity, but I'm not sure if 6 would yield similar results.

[@corbingrubb5307]

Allegedly I have a great uncle who had two thumbs and was an excellent bowler

[@garrytreymendeziii5650]

I was born with six fingers on my left hand and would have been a fan of Alfonseca (who Bob Costas called “digitally advanced”)…but I’m a Mets fan and he beat up the Metsies when he was with Atlanta, so I could never get behind him.

[@christianbooth6235]

Other “anatomically abnormal” former MLB players: Pete Gray (played one season during WW2 despite having no right arm) & Bert Shepard (pitched one game with a prosthetic leg… also during WW2).

[@cooiejr]

Henri Richard won 11 stanley cups as a player for Montreal back in the 60s. But didn't have any additional wins as a coach.

[@conanobrennan53]

Aussies are notorious for ironic nicknames for someone like Mordecai Brown where he is called Three fingers because he lost three fingers in an accident and only had two left.

[@moosevelt9148]

Hexhands!

[@me7312]

the volume on this feels really low, I had to turn mine up a lot

[@juanfranciscosantana4793]

Antonio alfonseca 🇩🇴⚾ they used to call Him octupus

[@noahdoss1967]

Weaver in Kentucky is a big body strong guy who doesn't seem to have a lot of agility needed to make the leap to the NFL, but he's expected to go in the 7th round in 2025 at the moment, though of course that could improve.

[@djepps83]

He had 45 saves in 2000 for the Marlins to set their Saves record then Armando Benitez broke it a few years later

[@tim.noonan]

Inb4 ‘Where’s the rest? Why would they put it behind a paywall? Am I not entitled to these people’s labor for free?’

[@No_Use_For_A_Name1981]

Imagining what this would be like solely because im a guitar player.

[@paulcharles2457]

Wow now you cooking 😮that's some next level thinking and I'm here for it

[@iamathousandapples]

Is there a stretch goal for the wheat futures podcast?

[@BruGaI]

If Antonio Alfonseca shoplifts something, would you say that he got a six-finger discount?

[@owenschnitzler9340]

Yogi Berra won 10 World Series as a player, 13 if you include his coach/manager rings.

[@haveagreatday6952]

Swimming

[@steffy30]

I'm saddened to hear these men didn't know about Hall of Famer Three Finger Brown--239 wins and a career 2.06 ERA!!!

[@psymar]

Yogi Berra has the most rings in baseball with 10. Russell has 11, but if you count coaching wins he should have 13 as he was player coach for two of those

[@benjaminrklein]

Mordecai Brown was a Hall of Famer and was the best pitcher in baseball in 1909!

[@psymar]

He also has the most World Series pitching wins as a Cub. Two of those were in relief, but the other 3 were complete game shutouts in the 1906, 1907 and 1908 World Series, which the Cubs needed as they scored only 6 runs across all 3 of those games! His record might be even better had he started more than just the final game in 1907, I suspect he was kept out because he lost the final game in 1906 giving up 7 runs before being pulled in the 2nd inning -- which he can't be entirely blamed for as this was 2 days after pitching all 9 in a 1-0 win...
Notably, however, he does NOT have the Cubs record for pitching wins in a single world series as his 5 Ws were spread across 4 Series from 1906-1910. That record belongs to Orval Overall who got the other 3 Cubs wins in the 1908 Series.

[@chrisdub846]

his extra pinky was only like an inch long and it didn't even touch the ball

[@Quesly1]

Mordecai 3 finger brown should be called 4 finger brown he's just missing his pointer

[@twalker500_]

Only slightly disappointed we can't see the other 4 walls of this office.

[@tannerd471]

A 6th finger is apparently good for cricket, one of my friends played at the national level in India and has a 6th finger on one hand

[@ZombieMurdoc]

11 fingers wouldn't be too weird, it's actually a dominant trait that's been almost entirely bred out of humans over the generations, but 6 digits on each hand and foot is wild

[@isitsustainable820]

Is he good at playing the piano?

[@noahdoss1967]

I knew someone who was born with 5 fingers on her left hand and 3 fingers on her right.

[@dasfowler]

TL;dl: AI already made a baseball player and he was fine.

[@BLanger37]

Thats not a hexagonal chain link room

[@Hobo613]

perhaps cutting at least some photogenic of the guy in game, snippet of article examples, etc? otherwise it’s similar to art history books that don’t have any images…

[@psymar]

As a Cubs fan we know pitchers with fewer fingers are better, as evidenced by Antonio Alfonseca and Mordecai Brown.

[@Nick-me5fb]

I was born with an extra pinky on my right hand, but my mom had it amputated. (It would have been useless, just like the one I still have.)

[@SixGigabytes]

You shake his hand and you get a little tickle.

[@BiggestPLANTS]

New Pretty Good when?

[@SOOKIE42069]

im not sure you can call it cheating. i'm 99% there isn't an MLB rule against having 6 fingers on your hand

[@MercedesJordy]

Nobody made a pick six joke smh

[@overdahedge2014]

yo u said SEgment thats one more capital than u need be careful with that shift business

[@overdahedge2014]

NVM THESE GUYS ARE QUICK WITH IT

[@charlesclark3840]

I believe you are contractually obligated to call most of the named patreon supporters "pretty good".

[@jakestanley52]

ANTONIO ALFONSECAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@Flexbone001]

Dorktown comeback?

[@robm2540]

My dad hated him. When he played with the Cubs every time they brought him in my dad would change the channel.

[@NB4th]

Is this a scripted podcast?

[@hhhh666]

Yeah cool, but fumbledimension, when?

[@robm2540]

My dad hated him. When he played with the Cubs every time they brought him in my dad would change the channel.