Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed “Newk“, was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1951 and 1954–58), Cincinnati Reds (1958–1960), and Cleveland Indians (1960).

Newcombe was the first pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and Cy Young Awards during his career. This distinction would not be achieved again until 2011, when Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, who was Rookie of the Year in 2006, won the Cy Young and MVP awards. In 1949, he became the first black pitcher to start a World Series game. In 1951, Newcombe was the first black pitcher to win 20 games in one season.^[1] 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.^[2]

Newcombe was an excellent hitting pitcher who compiled a career batting average of .271 with 15 home runs and was used as a pinch hitter, a rarity for pitchers.^[3]

Early life[edit]

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]

Career[edit]

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. He was the only player to win MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards until Justin Verlander accomplished the feat in 2011.^[11] Newcombe had a difficult time in the 1956 World Series.^[12] He was the losing pitcher in Game 7. 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.^[13]

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).^[14]

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.^[15] 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.^[16]

Life after retirement[edit]

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.^[17]

Newcombe was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary‘s Shrine of the Eternals in 2016^[18] and into the initial class of “Legends of Dodger Baseball” in 2019.^[19]

In a 19-year major-league career, Parrish played in 1,988 games, accumulating 1,782 hits in 7,067 at bats for a .252 career batting average along with 324 home runs and 1,070 runs batted in.^[2] Parrish was an eight-time All-Star (1980, 1982–86, 1988, and 1990), and he won three Gold Glove Awards (1983–85).^[2][45] Parrish was a six-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award, which is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position.^[46]

Parrish ranks as one of the greatest power-hitting catchers in baseball history. By 1994, he ranked fourth in major-league history in home runs as a catcher, trailing only Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, and Yogi Berra.^[47] He now ranks sixth, having been passed by Hall of Famers Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez.^[48]

Parrish also ranks as one of the most durable catchers in baseball history. At the time of his retirement, his 1,818 games at the position ranked seventh in baseball history. As of 2022, he ranks 13th.^[49]

He led American League catchers twice in baserunners caught stealing, once in assists, and once in caught stealing percentage.^[2] Parrish finished second in fielding percentage four times and ended his career with a .991 fielding percentage.^[2]

In 2001, Parrish received 9 votes (1.7% of the ballots) for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.^[50] Because he did not receive 5% of the vote, he was not eligible to remain on the following year’s ballot. Parrish was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.^[51][52]

In 1977, Guidry began the season as a relief pitcher but was moved into the Yankees’ starting rotation. On April 30, he was called on to make an emergency start in replace of Mike Torrez, recently acquired in a trade from the Athletics, who had not joined the team in time for what was supposed to be his first start. In the longest outing Guidry could remember since his Eastern League days of 1974, he helped the Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 3–0.^[7] Guidry finished the season with a 16–7 record.^[8] His emergence as a starter after his previous seasons in the bullpen made him one of the Yankees’ biggest surprises in 1977.^[9] He helped lead the Yankees to a World Series championship.^[10]

In 1978, Guidry posted a career year that has been described as the all-time best season by a Yankees pitcher.^[11] Against the California Angels on June 17, he struck out a Yankee-record 18 batters.^[12] Guidry’s 18-strikeout performance is usually cited as the launching pad of the Yankee Stadium tradition of fans standing and clapping for a strikeout with two strikes on the opposing batter.^[13] For the season, Guidry went 25–3,^[14] setting the all-time mark for winning percentage by a pitcher with at least twenty wins. He led the league with a 1.74 ERA, an .893 winning percentage, nine shutouts, and 248 strikeouts.^[14] Guidry’s success in 1978 was due in large part to his mastery of the slider.^[1] His 248 strikeouts set a Yankees’ franchise record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a single season,^[15] a record that stood until 2022 when Gerrit Cole recorded 257 strikeouts.^[16]

Guidry’s 25th win of the 1978 regular season was his most significant, as it came in the Yankees’ 5–4 win over the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff at Fenway Park in Boston to determine the American League East division winner. The game is best known for Bucky Dent‘s seventh-inning, three-run home run that gave the Yankees a 3–2 lead.^[17] Later that month, the Yankees again won the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers.^[14] Guidry won the 1978 American League Cy Young Award unanimously.^[13] He also finished second in the American League Most Valuable Player voting to Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice.^[18] In addition, Guidry was named The Sporting News AL Pitcher and Major League Player of the Year.^[14] Had he not taken the loss in Toronto on September 20, when his record at the time was 22-2, he would have become the first (and to date, only), pitcher ever with at least a .900 winning percentage, and at least 20 wins in a season. Ie…the first 20-game winner, to also lose fewer than three games.^[19]

Guidry was named to the American League All-Star Team in 1978, 1979, 1982, and 1983.^[20] Known as an excellent fielder,^[21] Guidry won a Gold Glove each year from 1982 through 1986.^[20] In 1984, Guidry won the Roberto Clemente Award,^[22] given annually to the Major Leaguer who “‘best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.'”^[23]

On August 7, 1984, Guidry struck out three batters (Carlton Fisk, Tom Paciorek and Greg Luzinski) on nine pitches in the ninth inning of a 7–0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Guidry became the eighth American League pitcher and the 27th pitcher in major-league history to accomplish an immaculate inning.^[24] In 1985, he led the American League with 22 wins.^[25] Guidry and Willie Randolph were named co-captains of the Yankees on March 4, 1986.^[26]

The latter years of Guidry’s 14-year major league career were hindered by shoulder and elbow injuries.^[27] He retired from baseball on July 12, 1989.^[28]

Guidry’s number 49 was retired on August 23, 2003. The Yankees also dedicated a plaque to Guidry in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque calls Guidry “a dominating pitcher”, a “respected leader”, and “a true Yankee.” Each living Yankee previously honored with a plaque in Monument Park was on hand for the ceremony: Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Don Mattingly.^[29]

Coaching career