{"id":17265,"date":"2019-02-19T18:14:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T23:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/\/?p=17265"},"modified":"2020-07-24T03:15:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T07:15:02","slug":"don-newcombe-dead-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2019\/02\/19\/don-newcombe-dead-92\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Announce Death of Legendary Pitcher Don Newcombe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was announced Tuesday that legendary pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/newcodo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Newcombe\u00a0<\/a>has passed away after a long illness. He was 92 years old. The four-time All-Star from the Brooklyn Dodgers is survived by his wife, Karen, and three children.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers announced his passing on Twitter:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Don Newcombe (1926-2019) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LcFwmeXJ58\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LcFwmeXJ58<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dodgers\/status\/1097932968440426496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Remembering Don Newcombe<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Pitching Career<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The legend won the inaugural <a href=\"http:\/\/m.mlb.com\/awards\/history-winners\/?award_id=NLCY\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy Young Award<\/a>, awarded to the league\u2019s best pitcher as voted by sportswriters, in 1956. (From 1956-66, one award was given for all of MLB. Separate awards for AL and NL pitchers began in 1967 and continue to the present.) He also won the MVP that year, the first pitcher to win both awards in the same season. That year, his record was 27-7 with a 3.06 ERA. His 27 wins are tied with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/koufasa01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sandy Koufax<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carltst01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Carlton<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/welchbo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bob Welch<\/a> for the second-most in a Cy Young Award season. Only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mclaide01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Denny McLain<\/a>, who won 31 for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, won more games in a Cy Young-winning season.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Brooklyn Dodgers<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Newcombe was in his prime during the Dodgers\u2019 last days in Brooklyn. His MLB career began in 1949 after two seasons in the Negro Leagues and three in the minors.<\/p>\n<p>During his rookie season, the 23-year-old went 17-8 with a 3.17 ERA and a league-leading five shutouts. He was named to the All-Star Team and won the Rookie of the Year award, defeating Boston Braves catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/crandde01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Del Crandall<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/awards\/awards_1949.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">21 out of 24 first-place votes<\/a>. After two more All-Star seasons in 1950 and 1951, he missed two seasons to serve in the Army.<\/p>\n<p>After a sub-par season in 1954, he made the All-Star Team for the final time in 1955. His record of 20-5 with a 3.20 ERA and a league-leading 1.113 WHIP was instrumental in Brooklyn\u2019s pennant run. Although he had a rough outing in the World Series, the Dodgers prevailed over the New York Yankees in seven games, winning their first title. He was also feared with his bat, hitting better than .300 in four of his ten seasons and better than .200 in all but one.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trade to Cincinnati<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, he struggled. An 0-6 record in eight starts prompted a mid-season trade to the Cincinnati Reds. He did better there, going 7-7 for the rest of the season. After two more above-average years, his career ended.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>After Baseball<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Beginning in 1956, Newcombe struggled with alcohol addiction, something that he later said contributed to his shortened career. After he quit drinking in 1966, he helped others deal with substance abuse. According to Mike Kupper with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/obituaries\/la-me-don-newcombe-20190219-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, former L.A. Dodger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willsma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maury Wills<\/a> was one such person. Wills would later say\u00a0that Newcombe was \u201cthe man who saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newcombe left a great legacy both on and off the field, but his off-field achievements were his proudest. \u201cWhat I have done after my baseball career,&#8221; said Newcombe, &#8220;And being able to help people [get] their lives back on track and \u2026 become human beings again, means more to me than all the things I did in baseball.\u201d Such a wonderful human being will truly be missed by many.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"V1Rqhfm2QpNcoYEX9h6rzA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/869161276\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'V1Rqhfm2QpNcoYEX9h6rzA',sig:'zMygbU-xX4DsSvT4y0JuEsYw33Fr99i6qdlE-eeCNtM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'869161276',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legendary Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe is dead at the age of 92 after a long illness. He left a great legacy both on and off the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2901,"featured_media":17272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071],"tags":[68,2393,92,69],"class_list":["post-17265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-don-newcombe","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb"],"modified_by":"Evan Thompson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}