[GeoPoto]

Player #157C: Louis N. "Bobo" Newsom. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1935-1937, 1942, 1943, 1946-1947, and 1952. 211 wins and 21 saves in 20 MLB seasons. 4-time All-Star. 1947 World Series champion. 1942 AL strikeout leader. He had a career ERA of 3.98. He debuted with the Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers in 1929-1930. He changed teams 16 times. Almost joined Benton as only to have pitched to Ruth and Mantle. He was known for his eccentricities. In 1940 with the Detroit Tigers, he posted a 21-5 record with a 2.83 ERA in 264 innings pitched. His last team was the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952-1953.

. . . Bobo Newsome made a habit of holding out at the beginning of many a spring and was ahead of his time in that he might be considered one of the first player reps in baseball. He had become known as the "The Voice" around St. Louis because of his willingness to tangle with management whenever he felt a teammate was being slighted. Despite the man's nature, Bucky Harris went along with Griffith's plan to purchase Bobo from the Browns on May 21, 1935. The Old Fox had decided to parlay some of his "winnings" from the sale of his nephew, and Bobo was as good a $40,000 investment as any other.

Bucky Harris, in despair over the disarray of his pitching staff, recognized that Newsom was a blowhard, and said as much, but reasoned that he could handle the headaches if the hard thrower could win Washington some games. Newsom was off to a bad 0-6 start when acquired, and he went 11-12 for the Nats to finish with a very ordinary 11-18, 4.52 slate for the season. But it didn't take him long to get attention with the Senators. In one of his first starts, Earl Averill conked the big guy on the knee with a line drive. Bobo made a show of it, delaying proceedings while he went to the bench for a while, but it wasn't until after the game that he was taken seriously. He had, after all, pitched until the end, and won. It was discovered later that his kneecap was broken.

Newsom would again show uncommon courage in 1940, while a member of the Tigers. After witnessing his son start and win the first game of the World Series, Bobo Newsom's dad died suddenly. A distraught Bobo dedicated his next game to his father and, with all of America's baseball fans except for a few Cincinnati dissenters behind him, won that one as well. Nonetheless, the Cincinnati Reds insisted on deviating from the consummate script, and handed Newsom a very tough 2-1 complete-game loss in game seven. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)