Bobo Newsom: Baseball's Traveling Man

by Jim McConnell

Overview

For three decades, Louis Norman "Bobo" Newsom (1907-1962) was one of the most well-known pitchers in baseball. Frequently quoted by sportswriters, he appeared in all the popular sports publications as well as on Wheaties boxes and bubblegum cards, and was the undisputed star of the 1940 World Series.

Despite his success, he was sold or traded 14 times during his 20-year career. He pitched for nine of 16 Major League teams--including five stints with the Washington Senators--and made sports headlines nearly every year for holding out, being suspended or traded. In an era when players seldom changed teams more than once and rarely defied authority, Newsom seemed always at odds with the powers that be.

Drawing on interviews with family, friends and former teammates, this first full-length biography of Newsom takes an entertaining look at the life and career of one of sports' most memorable characters. Despite his nickname and nonstop antics, Bobo was much more than a clown, and gave more to the game than he ever got from it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476619590
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	11/26/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sports journalist Jim McConnell has written Then and Now, a weekly sports history column for the Pasadena Star-News and its affiliates, for the past 20 years. He has won numerous writing awards, including those bestowed by The Associated Press, The California Newspaper Publisher’s Association and the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. He is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Research Award. He lives in Covina, California.
Sports journalist Jim McConnell has written Then and Now, a weekly sports history column for the Pasadena Star-News and its affiliates, for the past 20 years. He has won numerous writing awards, including those bestowed by The Associated Press, The California Newspaper Publisher's Association and the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. He is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Research Award. He lives in Covina, California.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Mark Langill
Introduction
One. Hartsville, South Carolina (1907–1927)
Two. Raleigh to Brooklyn, via Greenville, Wilmington and Mobile (1928–1929)
Three. New York to Los Angeles, via Brooklyn, Jersey City, Mobile, Little Rock and Chicago (1930–1933)
Four. St. Louis to Washington, D.C. (1934–1935)
Five. Washington to Boston (1936–1937)
Six. St. Louis to Detroit (1938–1939)
Seven. Detroit (1940)
Eight. Detroit to Washington to Brooklyn (1941–1942)
Nine. Brooklyn to St. Louis to Washington (1943)
Ten. Philadelphia to Washington (1944–1946)
Eleven. New York to Hartsville (1947–1948)
Twelve. Chattanooga to Birmingham to Washington to Philadelphia (1949–1953)
Thirteen. Baltimore to Washington to Winter Park to Hartsville (1954–1962)
Epilogue
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

During a long career in baseball, Bobo Newsom provided more than his fair share of quality pitching (for his teams), colorful quotes (for the sportwriters) and continual headaches (for management). Thanks to Jim McConnell, we finally have a biography worthy of this wonderful character.”—Mark Armour, founder of SABR’s Baseball Biography Project.

From the Publisher