Having six fingers has to be difficult. Gloves don’t fit right, it takes you 20% longer to wash your hands, you are a suspect in Adrian Monk’s wife’s death. And what advantages could there be? You get to wear an extra ring?

Well, one guess might be gripping things, which is perhaps why Antonio Alfonsesca, born with twelve fingers and twelve toes, decided to become a Major League Baseball Pitcher. Different pitches are made by gripping and throwing the baseball in different ways. So could having an extra finger step up your game? Maybe.

In 2000 with the Marlins Mr. Alfonseca recorded a league leading 45 saves and won the Relief Man Award. Unfortunately the rest of his seasons were less spectacular. It was other parts of his body that were to blame for that as Mr. Alfonseca wound up needing surgery on his back and elbow and had weight problems. He had a modest, but decent 10 year career.

Mr. Alfonseca was cleverly called “digitally enhanced” by sports broadcaster Bob Costas, nicknamed “The Octopus” and, much less cleverly,  “Six Fingers”.