Don Newcombe

Newcombe was born in Madison, New Jersey, on June 14, 1926, and was raised in Elizabeth.[4] He had three brothers and a sister. His father worked as a chauffeur.[5]

Newcombe attended Jefferson High School in Elizabeth. The school did not have a baseball team, so Newcombe played semi-professional baseball while attending high school.[5]

After playing briefly with the Newark Eagles in the Negro National League in 1944 and 1945, 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.[6] He continued to play for Nashua in 1947 before being promoted to the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League in 1948.[5]

Newcombe debuted for Brooklyn on May 20, 1949, becoming the third African American pitcher in the major leagues, after Dan Bankhead and Satchel Paige.[5] 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.[7]^:p.288 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.[8] 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.[5] In 1950, he won 19 games, and 20 the following season, also leading the league in strikeouts in 1951.[9] 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 when Clyde Sukeforth instructed manager Chuck Dressen to bring in Branca. Branca then surrendered the walk-off home run to Bobby Thomson to give the Giants the pennant.[10]

After two years of mandatory military duty during the Korean War, Newcombe suffered a disappointing season in 1954, going 9–8 with a 4.55 earned run average, but returned to form the next year by finishing second in the NL in both wins and earned run average, with marks of 20–5 and 3.20, as the Dodgers won their first World Series in franchise history. He had an even greater 1956 season, with marks of 27–7, 139 strikeouts, and a 3.06 ERA, five shutouts and 18 complete games, leading the league in winning percentage for the second year in a row. He was named the National League's MVP, and was awarded the first-ever Cy Young Award, then given to the best pitcher in the combined major leagues. Newcombe had a difficult time in the 1956 World Series. Game Two, a Yogi Berra grand slam drove Newcombe from the game in the top of the second inning. Newcombe left the ballpark while the game was still underway and assaulted Michael "Buster" Brown, a parking-lot attendant outside of Brooklyn's Ebbets Field [Society for American Baseball Research https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/a79b94f3]. He was the losing pitcher in Game 7. Yogi Berra, who hit three home runs off of him in the series, hit two of them in Game 7. The Yankees and Johnny Kucks won 9–0.[5]

Following the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles, Newcombe got off to an 0–6 start in 1958 before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Steve Bilko, Johnny Klippstein, and two players to be named later during the season.[5] He posted a record of 24–21 with Cincinnati until his contract was sold to Cleveland in mid-1960. He finished with a 2–3 mark in Cleveland before being released to end his major league career. Newcombe acknowledged that alcoholism played a significant role in the decline of his career.[11]

On May 28, 1962, Newcombe signed with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Newcombe played one season in Japan, splitting time as an outfielder and a first baseman, only pitching in one game. In 81 games, he hit .262 with 12 home runs and 43 runs batted in (RBIs).[12]

In his ten-year major league career, Newcombe registered a record of 149–90, with 1,129 strikeouts and a 3.56 ERA, 136 complete games and 24 shutouts in 2,154 innings pitched. In addition to his pitching abilities, Newcombe was a dangerous hitter, hitting seven home runs in the 1955 season.[13] He batted .271 (ninth-best average in history among pitchers), with 15 home runs, 108 RBIs, 238 hits, 33 doubles, three triples, 94 runs scored and eight stolen bases.[14]

Newcombe in 2009

Newcombe rejoined the Dodger organization in the late 1970s and served as the team's Director of Community Affairs. In March 2009, he was named special adviser to the chairman of the team.[15]

Newcombe was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2016.[16]

Newcombe was married three times. His first wife was Freddie Green, whom he married in 1945 and divorced in 1960. A week after his divorce from Green, he married Billie Roberts, a marriage which lasted until they divorced in 1994. Newcombe's third wife, Karen Kroner, survived him. Newcombe had three children from his marriages.[5][17]

Newcombe dealt with alcoholism in the 1950s and 1960s, describing himself as "a stupefied, wife-abusing, child-frightening, falling-down drunk". His alcoholism became so severe that, in 1965, he pawned his World Series ring in order to afford alcohol. He quit drinking in 1966, when his wife threatened to leave him.[5] In his personal and professional life, he helped numerous other people including military personnel and Dodgers teammate Maury Wills in their own battles against substance abuse.[18]

At a fundraising event for Senator Barbara Boxer, President Barack Obama referred to Newcombe (who was attending the event) as "someone who helped... America become what it is.[19]

I would not be here if it were not for Jackie and it were not for Don Newcombe.

- Barack Obama, April 19, 2010.

Newcombe died on the morning of February 19, 2019, at the age of 92, following a long illness. His death was announced on the Dodgers' Twitter account. He's interred at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Los Angeles.[20]

• List of first black Major League Baseball players
• List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball
• List of Major League Baseball annual strikeout leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders
• List of Major League Baseball all-time leaders in home runs by pitchers
• American expatriate baseball players in Japan

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet

• Negro league baseball statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
• Don Newcombe at SABR (Baseball BioProject)
• Baseball Hall of Fame candidate profile at the Wayback Machine (archived April 21, 2007)
• Dodgers to celebrate Japanese American Community Night
• "Baseball Legend Don Newcombe" Interview with Don Newcombe on his career, from KUT's In Black America series, on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, January 11, 1985.