OT: Don Newcombe Dodger Great Passes | The Boneyard

OT: Don Newcombe Dodger Great Passes

cohenzone

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I met him when I was a kid. There used to be an annual Sportsmen’s event at the Hartford State Armory with lots of exhibits and celebrities. He was there to sign autographs. What sticks in my mind the most was where he was when I got his autograph. He was on a break. He had a well known weight issue and my dad and I encountered him sitting on a weight loss vibrating chair at an exhibit. I think he was cordial under the circumstances but don’t remember much else. RIP one of the early Major League African American pitchers.
 

RockyMTblue2

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I was a Yankees and Dodgers fan and then the betrayal. Kidding on the contemps. He has me by 20 years.
 
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I saw him pitch at Fenway in 1960 or '61. I don't remember who he was pitching for at the time. He was a very good hitter too, I recall him hitting some drives off the Fenway wall during BP. RIP Don, you were one great player.
 

cohenzone

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I saw him pitch at Fenway in 1960 or '61. I don't remember who he was pitching for at the time. He was a very good hitter too, I recall him hitting some drives off the Fenway wall during BP. RIP Don, you were one great player.
Definitely a good hitting pitcher as was Don Larsen.
 

cohenzone

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I was a Yankees and Dodgers fan and then the betrayal. Kidding on the contemps. He has me by 20 years.
So was I, but more of a Yankees fan so when they played each other in the WS iI was normally happy.
 

Monte

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I will always remember him as a great hitter as well as a pitcher.
There was a time, when he was the leading pinch hitter for a great hitting Dodger team.
In 1955, he had 7 home runs and hit for a .359 average.

Also, I believe it was against the Phillies, he pitched a complete game victory in the first game of a double header, and then he was the starting pitcher in the second game.
 
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Another sad day for us old Dodger fans. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 50’s I got to see the “boys of summer ” many times. Five Elsie ice cream wrappers and a quarter got a general admission ticket. My brother and I would get to the ballpark early for autographs and batting practice. What great memories ! The autographs have been handed down in the family. I still have a ball caught during Carl Erskine’s no-hitter in 1956.
 

Monte

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Another sad day for us old Dodger fans. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 50’s I got to see the “boys of summer ” many times. Five Elsie ice cream wrappers and a quarter got a general admission ticket. My brother and I would get to the ballpark early for autographs and batting practice. What great memories ! The autographs have been handed down in the family. I still have a ball caught during Carl Erskine’s no-hitter in 1956.
My first visit to Ebbets Field was in 1951. I was sick all the way home: the lowly Pirates beat Newcombe,
4-1.
 

cohenzone

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I'll trade you my DT signed Fathead for it. Naw. But man that is a family heirloom to be sure.
Another sad day for us old Dodger fans. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 50’s I got to see the “boys of summer ” many times. Five Elsie ice cream wrappers and a quarter got a general admission ticket. My brother and I would get to the ballpark early for autographs and batting practice. What great memories ! The autographs have been handed down in the family. I still have a ball caught during Carl Erskine’s no-hitter in 1956.

That’s Oiske as we said in our finest North End Hartfordese.
 
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To previous commenters: sorry, no way anyone could root for both the Dodgers and Yankees, especially back when Newc was pitching.
 

RockyMTblue2

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To previous commenters: sorry, no way anyone could root for both the Dodgers and Yankees, especially back when Newc was pitching.

Crap, how was a 6 year old who just bought the gum and traded the cards and just loved baseball going to know he was breaking some sacred baseball taboo. If only I had known. Oh the agony and remorse. Guess it's sack cloth and ashes for me for a while. "For love of the game."
 

JordyG

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Crap, how was a 6 year old who just bought the gum and traded the cards and just loved baseball going to know he was breaking some sacred baseball taboo. If only I had known. Oh the agony and remorse. Guess it's sack cloth and ashes for me for a while. "For love of the game."
Back in those days there were 3 teams in this city. The Yankee's could see Coogan's Bluff and the Giants across the river. They were almost buddies compared the rivalry that was the Dodger's and the corporate, button down Yankee's.

The Dodger's were a real family and community team. Newk, Jackie, Erskine, Campanella, they all lived in the neighborhood. They shopped at our stores, they road the bus with us and their kids went to school with us. We lived and died with every victory and every loss. Big Newk was the last of that great Brooklyn Dodgers championship team. He was larger than life, as big as the game and now he's gone. My dad, my uncle and all of their generation loved this man, loved Jackie, loved Campy, and now they're all gone. I was only 5 but I remember the joy in our house when they won in '56. I remember the sadness, the anger and the sense of betrayal when the abandoned us three years later.

Goodbye big man. RIP. Man, I miss all of it.
 

cohenzone

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To previous commenters: sorry, no way anyone could root for both the Dodgers and Yankees, especially back when Newc was pitching.
Yeah you could. Different leagues. Rooting for Dem Bums and the Giants on the other hand ....
 

cohenzone

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Back in those days there were 3 teams in this city. The Yankee's could see Coogan's Bluff and the Giants across the river. They were almost buddies compared the rivalry that was the Dodger's and the corporate, button down Yankee's.

The Dodger's were a real family and community team. Newk, Jackie, Erskine, Campanella, they all lived in the neighborhood. They shopped at our stores, they road the bus with us and their kids went to school with us. We lived and died with every victory and every loss. Big Newk was the last of that great Brooklyn Dodgers championship team. He was larger than life, as big as the game and now he's gone. My dad, my uncle and all of their generation loved this man, loved Jackie, loved Campy, and now they're all gone. I was only 5 but I remember the joy in our house when they won in '56. I remember the sadness, the anger and the sense of betrayal when the abandoned us three years later.

Goodbye big man. RIP. Man, I miss all of it.
One of the great heroes in American sports history and arguably American history period played for those teams. Pee Wee Reese, the Kentucky Colonel, basically shamed the bigots in baseball into accepting Jackie Robinson and helping him to get through his earliest years of abuse from players and fans. No doubt he helped set a positive atmosphere for future African American players like Newcomb and guys who got into the league through the early 50s.
 
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Back in those days there were 3 teams in this city. The Yankee's could see Coogan's Bluff and the Giants across the river. They were almost buddies compared the rivalry that was the Dodger's and the corporate, button down Yankee's.

The Dodger's were a real family and community team. Newk, Jackie, Erskine, Campanella, they all lived in the neighborhood. They shopped at our stores, they road the bus with us and their kids went to school with us. We lived and died with every victory and every loss. Big Newk was the last of that great Brooklyn Dodgers championship team. He was larger than life, as big as the game and now he's gone. My dad, my uncle and all of their generation loved this man, loved Jackie, loved Campy, and now they're all gone. I was only 5 but I remember the joy in our house when they won in '56. I remember the sadness, the anger and the sense of betrayal when the abandoned us three years later.

Goodbye big man. RIP. Man, I miss all of it.

enjoyed your look-back; I was across the river in Joisey. excuse me for saying that it was '55. I never stopped rooting for them, as it wasn't the players who abandoned.
 

Monte

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I believe Erskine is 92 years old, and is living in Indiana.
 

cohenzone

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and in the fall of '52, '53,'55, and '56 you rooted for....?
As I said, the Yankees. If you want to know how crazy a fan I am, my parents were big Red Sox fans. But Mantle was my hero. I liked Snider but I loved Mantle.
 

JordyG

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One of the great heroes in American sports history and arguably American history period played for those teams. Pee Wee Reese, the Kentucky Colonel, basically shamed the bigots in baseball into accepting Jackie Robinson and helping him to get through his earliest years of abuse from players and fans. No doubt he helped set a positive atmosphere for future African American players like Newcomb and guys who got into the league through the early 50s.
Pee Wee Reese. True American.
 

JordyG

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Yeah you could. Different leagues. Rooting for Dem Bums and the Giants on the other hand ....
Usually the phrase went like this, "A-a-ah dose #$^%$% bums.
 

JordyG

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I believe Erskine is 92 years old, and is living in Indiana.
Right so right. Sorry Carl. Still miss you though.
 

JordyG

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One more thing. It was Brooklyn Dodger fans that started using the phrase, "Wait until next year" which is so ingrained in sports and our culture.
 
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As I said, the Yankees. If you want to know how crazy a fan I am, my parents were big Red Sox fans. But Mantle was my hero. I liked Snider but I loved Mantle.

I became a bit more accepting of the Yankees when my roommate in college, Archie Moore, signed a bonus contract with them in 1963. In his first spring training in 1964, Yogi left him behind as the team traveled for an exhibition game. Left him behind for a session of batting instruction , with Mantle, Maris, and DiMaggio. He said time spent with DiMaggio was very special.
 

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