Don Newcombe 1952 Bowman Baseball Card For Sale

Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 - February 19, 2019) was the only pitcher in Major League history to win the Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, until Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander accomplished the feat in 2011. Newcombe earned The Sporting News and Baseball Writers Rookie of the Year Award in 1949 as he helped Brooklyn capture the National League pennant. During the pennant run, Newk had a stretch of 32 straight scoreless innings and finished his season with a 17-8 record with 149 strikeouts and a league leading five shutouts. Don Newcombe suffered a handful of season ended foibles and failures throughout his career though he remained a successful pitcher for 10 seasons. For instance, Newcombe was lifted in the ninth inning of the 1951 playoff game against the New York Giants, with two men on, in favor of Ralph Branca, who in turn gave up Bobby Thomson’s 3-run homers and “shot heard ‘round the world.” Don always bounced back and in 1955 he went 20-5 as he led the Dodgers to the Promised Land over the cross-town rival New York Yankees. In 1956, Newcombe produced a superb year going 27-2 with five shutouts and 139 strikeouts earning both the National League’s Most Valuable Player award and Major League Baseball’s inaugural Cy Young Award. He was also named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year in 1956. Newk pitched ten years in the bigs with Brooklyn/Los Angeles (1949-1951, 1954-1957/1958), the Cincinnati Reds (1958-1960) and the Cleveland Indians (160) and appeared in four MLB All-Star Games. Don Newcombe finished his career in 1960 having amassed a 149-90 record with 136 complete games, 1,129 strikeouts and 24 shutouts