Don Newcombe

HandednessBats Left · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 220 lb

BornJune 14, 1926 · Madison, NJ, USA

MLB debutMay 20, 1949

Final gameOctober 1, 1960

Seasons12 (1944–1960)

Newark Eagles 1944–1945; Brooklyn Dodgers 1949–1951; Brooklyn Dodgers 1954–1957; Cincinnati Redlegs 1958; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958; Cincinnati Redlegs 1959; Cincinnati Reds 1960; Cleveland Indians 1960

Percentile snapshot

1959 season — qualified pitchers

1.8

39.3

44.6

87.5

48.2

89.3

SHO

37.5

216

35.7

62.5

100

33.9

21.4

222.0

53.6

ERA

3.16

69.6

WHIP

1.095

96.4

K/9

4.05

21.4

FIP

3.62

60.7

FIP-

89.3

76.8

ERA+

128.2

87.5

sWAR

5.2

87.5

of 57 qualified 1959 pitchers (min 154 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

114.1

80.6

sWAR

42.7

98.2

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1944	8	15	14	2	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.286	.333	.357	.690	86.6	85.0	.328	0.0
1945	10	28	24	3	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	.167	.286	.167	.452	45.3	28.4	.245	1.4
1949	39	102	96	8	22	4	0	0	10	5	16	0	0	.229	.267	.271	.538	36.6	43.0	.252	5.4
1950	40	110	97	8	24	3	1	1	8	10	19	0	0	.247	.318	.330	.648	68.9	69.9	.301	4.8
1951	40	114	103	11	23	3	1	0	8	8	9	0	0	.223	.286	.272	.558	46.9	50.2	.264	5.4
1954	31	55	47	6	15	1	0	0	4	4	6	0	0	.319	.365	.340	.706	84.5	84.3	.326	1.2
1955	57	125	117	18	42	9	1	7	23	6	18	1	0	.359	.395	.632	1.028	171.2	165.8	.446	6.8
1956	52	128	111	13	26	6	0	2	16	12	18	1	0	.234	.312	.342	.654	74.7	72.4	.301	6.4
1957	34	86	74	8	17	2	0	1	7	11	11	0	1	.230	.329	.297	.627	71.3	66.1	.299	3.9
1958	50	83	72	11	26	1	0	1	9	10	12	0	0	.361	.434	.417	.850	131.9	121.7	.392	1.8
1959	61	123	105	10	32	2	0	3	21	17	23	0	0	.305	.402	.410	.811	122.0	114.6	.373	5.2
1960	48	62	56	1	11	2	0	0	2	4	15	0	0	.196	.250	.232	.482	30.3	32.6	.230	0.4

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1944	8	5	1	3	0	3	0	40	23	22	23	2	37.0	5.59	1.676	5.59	5.23	121.1	77.1	0.0
1945	7	6	3	3	0	6	0	43	16	16	33	1	55.3	2.60	1.066	5.37	3.74	90.7	158.4	1.4
1949	38	31	17	8	1	19	5	223	86	73	149	17	244.3	3.17	1.211	5.49	3.15	76.2	130.4	5.4
1950	40	35	19	11	3	20	4	258	110	75	130	22	267.3	3.70	1.246	4.38	3.42	81.8	112.8	4.8
1951	40	36	20	9	0	18	3	235	99	91	164	19	272.0	3.28	1.199	5.43	3.15	79.0	121.8	5.4
1954	29	25	9	8	0	6	0	158	73	49	82	24	144.3	4.55	1.434	5.11	4.57	109.9	91.3	1.2
1955	34	31	20	5	0	17	1	222	83	38	143	35	233.7	3.20	1.113	5.51	3.53	86.0	128.4	6.8
1956	38	36	27	7	0	18	5	219	91	46	139	33	268.0	3.06	.989	4.67	3.34	84.7	129.1	6.4
1957	28	28	11	12	0	12	4	199	77	33	90	28	198.7	3.49	1.168	4.08	3.95	96.4	117.6	3.9
1958	31	26	7	13	1	8	0	212	87	36	69	31	167.7	4.67	1.479	3.70	4.75	114.1	89.1	1.8
1959	30	29	13	8	1	17	2	216	78	27	100	25	222.0	3.16	1.095	4.05	3.62	89.3	128.2	5.2
1960	36	17	6	9	1	1	0	160	68	22	63	18	136.7	4.48	1.332	4.15	3.89	102.1	85.0	0.4

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

470

1,031

916

246

RBI

109

147

.2686

OBP

.3363

SLG

.3614

OPS

.6977

Pitching

G (P)

359

305

341st-most career GS

153

250th-most career W

145

239th-most career CG

SHO

189th-most career SHO

2,247

329th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,185

400th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

528

ERA

3.569

500th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2074

185th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

4.75

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	TB
1955-05-30	PIT @ LAD Gameday	4	3	3	0	2	3	9
1956-09-19	STL @ LAD Gameday	4	3	3	0	2	3	9
1955-07-15	STL @ LAD Gameday	5	2	4	1	1	3	8
1955-04-14	LAD @ SF Gameday	4	2	2	0	2	3	8
1959-05-15	CIN @ SF Gameday	4	1	3	1	1	3	7

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1945-06-22	BBB @ NE Gameday	9.0	7	3	2	1	14	0
1951-06-03	CHC @ LAD Gameday	9.0	9	3	3	3	12	0
1949-06-06	PIT @ LAD Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	2	11	0
1949-10-05	LAD @ NYY Gameday	8.0	5	1	1	0	11	1
1945-06-01	NYC @ NE Gameday	9.0	12	6	6	4	10	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

1× Rookie of the Year1× Cy Young Award1× Most Valuable Player4× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.