bobo newsom got around

bobo newsom pitched in the major leagues during 20 different seasons, and in doing so, he suited up for 9 different franchises.  that included five different stints with the washington senators, three separate showings with the saint louis browns, two different stints with the philadelphia a's, and two different go-arounds with the brooklyn robins/dodgers.  that last one is why we're here - bobo newsom was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the seventysecond installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, and marv rackley.]

here's newsom's 1990 target dodgers card from the set that was given away at dodger stadium in 1990 to mark the 100th anniversary of the team's existence in the national league.

newsom's major league career began with the robins in 1929 when he took the loss in all 3 games in which he appeared.  he returned to the majors in 1930 with the robins, and appeared in two games but did not earn a decision in either.  from there, he went to chicago where he made one appearance for the cubs in 1932.  in 1934, he was back in the majors, this time with the browns.  he led the american league in losses that year and the next, splitting the 1935 campaign between the browns and the senators.

newsom eventually left washington and went to the red sox and then back to the browns, followed by three full seasons with the tigers from 1939-1941.  interestingly, he won 21 games with detroit in 1940, and threw three complete games (including a shutout) in the world series that year, and then lost 20 games in 1941.  he started the 1942 season back with the senators, but went to the brooklyn dodgers in late august.  this time with brooklyn, newsom managed to record two victories in six games pitched, including a shutout against the reds in his first start back with the club.  he was with brooklyn to start the 1943 season as well, but was traded in july to the browns following a 9-4 start to the season.

after that, newsom was back to the senators, back to the a's, on to the yankees (he faced the dodgers in the 1947 world series and won a ring), back to the senators, on to the giants, back to the senators, and then finished his career with the a's in 1952 and 1953.  newsom's longevity and bouts with success lead to some interesting stats - he is one of only a couple of pitchers to have won 200 or more games in their career, but also have a losing record.  he posted the highest era (5.08) of any pitcher to win 20 games in a single season, and yet he was at one time the highest paid pitcher in the game.

thanks baseball reference!