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Bobo Newsom
Louis Norman "Buck" Newsom
Born: Aug. 11, 1907 in Hartsville, S.C.
Died: Dec. 7, 1962 in Orlando, Fl.
Debut: 1929 | Pos: P
H: 6'2" | W: 220 | B: R | T: R
| Yr | W | L | G | SV | IP | SO | ERA |
| 20 | 211 | 222 | 600 | 21 | 3759.1 | 1732 | 3.98 |
>> Visit the Bobo Newsom biography on Baseball Almanac for complete statistics.
Bobo Newsom, born in Hartsville, South Carolina, played with eight teams in his 20-year pitching career and was a part of 16 trades -- the highest total for a major league player in history. In his career, he won 211 games, but lost 222. He is one of only two pitchers in major league history to win 200 games or more and lose more times than they won.
Newsom had four 20-win seasons in the majors. He also had three 20-loss seasons and led the league in losses four times. He appeared in four All-Star Games - 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1944. In 1938, he led the league with 329.2 innings pitched. He led the league with complete games in 1938 with 31 and 1939 with 24. In 1942, Newsom led the league in strikeouts with 113.
In postseason pitching appearances, Newsom finished with a 2-2 record and a 2.86 earned run average in the World Series. Following a 1940 season in which Newsom finished with a 21-5 record, Detroit made it to the World Series to face the Reds. Newsom’s father was visiting from South Carolina and saw Newsom pitch his way to a win in game one His father died suddenly after seeing him win the game. A tearful Newsom dedicated his next start to his father, and he won that one too. However, he wasn’t able to get a win in the seventh and deciding game of the series.
Misfortune seemed to follow Newsom’s career. He had a no-hitter going through nine innings in one games and then lost 2-1 in the 10th inning. He also had his knee-cap broken by a line drive during a game, but managed to finish the game and get the win. On May 18, 1938, Newsom tied the American League record with six consecutive strikeouts, but gave up the second home run of the game to Joe DiMaggio and lost the game 11-7.
One of his team changes came during 1939 when he was part of a 10-player swap in which the St. Louis Browns sent Newsom, Beau Bell, Red Kress and Jim Walkup to Detroit for Vern Kennedy, Bob Harris, George Gill, Roxie Lawson, Chet Laabs and Mark Christman.
As a batter, Newsom hit .189 in his career with one home run and 102 runs batted in.