The widely used gesture today of obscenely raising the middle finger while keeping the hand closed – the comb – has its origin in ancient Greece. In the work The clouds of the playwright Aristophanes , in 423 BC, he showed his animosity towards Socrates. In this comedy, a poorly educated peasant is surprised to learn of the existence of dactyl verses – in Greco-Roman metrics, the dactyl is a foot made up of a long syllable followed by two short ones – which the poet explains. The peasant thinks that when he spoke of dactyl, Socrates was referring to a finger, so he raises his middle finger and asks:this one perhaps? The gesture quickly spread as a synonym for coarseness and has reached our days.
The author of the first comb was professional baseball pitcher Charles Gardner Radbourn , nicknamed Old Hoss , in a Boston Beaneaters team photograph dated 1886. Radbourn played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB):Buffalo Bisons (1880), Providence Grays (1881–1885), Boston Beaneaters (1886–1889), Boston Reds (1890), and Cincinnati Reds (1891 ). In 1884, Radbourn became the second Major League Baseball pitcher to win a triple crown and still holds the record for wins in a season with 60. In 1939 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. 
Boston Beaneaters
Old Hoss
After retiring, Radbourn opened a successful pool hall in Bloomington, Illinois, but lost an eye in a hunting accident. The rest of his days he spent secluded in his house because of the shame that his appearance produced in him. After suffering from the effects of syphilis for several years, Radbourn died in Bloomington in 1897.