Don Newcombe

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/obituaries/don-newcombe-dead.html

Don Newcombe, the major leagues’ first outstanding black pitcher and a star for the Brooklyn Dodgers in their glory years, the 1950s, died on Tuesday. He was 92.

The Dodgers announced his death but did not say where he died.

An imposing right-hander, at 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds, with an overpowering fastball, Newcombe claimed a string of achievements: National League rookie of the year in 1949; four-time All-Star; the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1956, when he also won the first Cy Young Award as baseball’s top pitcher. Moreover, he was the first black pitcher to start a World Series game.

But his career was cut short by alcoholism, and he was tormented by an undeserved reputation for failing to win big games, particularly in the World Series.

While Newcombe was proud of his accomplishments as a pitcher, he was gratified as well to have played a role in the civil rights struggle by helping to shatter modern baseball’s racial barrier after the arrival of the Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson and catcher Roy Campanella.