Don Newcombe
| Don Newcombe | |||
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Newcombe in 1955.
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: June 14, 1926 Madison, New Jersey |
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| MLB debut | |||
| May 20, 1949, for the Brooklyn Dodgers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 1, 1960, for the Cleveland Indians | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 149–90 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.56 | ||
| Strikeouts | 1,129 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Donald Newcombe (born June 14, 1926), nicknamed Newk, is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–51 and 1954–58), Cincinnati Reds (1958–60) and Cleveland Indians (1960).
Until 2011 when Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander accomplished the feat, Newcombe was the only baseball player to have won the Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards in his career. In 1949, he became the first black pitcher to start a World Series game. In 1951, Newcombe was the first black pitcher to win twenty games in one season. In 1956, the inaugural year of the Cy Young Award, he became the first pitcher to win the National League MVP and the Cy Young in the same season.
Newcombe compiled a career batting average of .271 with 15 home runs and was used as a pinch hitter, a rarity for pitchers.
Newcombe was born in Madison, New Jersey, and was raised in Elizabeth where he attended Jefferson High School.
After playing one season with the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues, Newcombe signed with the Dodgers. With catcher Roy Campanella, Newcombe played for the first racially integrated baseball team based in the United States in the 20th century, the 1946 Nashua Dodgers of the New England League. He continued to play for Nashua in 1947 before moving up through the minor leagues. He debuted for Brooklyn on May 20, 1949. Effa Manley, business manager for the Eagles, agreed to let the Dodgers' Branch Rickey sign Newcombe to a contract. Manley was not compensated for the release of Newcombe. He immediately helped the Dodgers to the league pennant as he earned seventeen victories, led the league in shutouts, and pitched 32 consecutive scoreless innings. He was also among the first four black players to be named to an All-Star team, along with teammates Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella and the Indians' Larry Doby. Newcombe was named Rookie of the Year by both The Sporting News and the Baseball Writers' Association of America. In 1950, he won 19 games, and 20 the following season, also leading the league in strikeouts in 1951. In the memorable playoff game between the Dodgers and the Giants at the end of the 1951 season, Newcombe was relieved by Ralph Branca in the bottom of the ninth inning before Branca surrendered the walk-off home run to Bobby Thomson.
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