Don Newcombe Sets the National League Home Run Record for Pitchers

On September 5, 1955, Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers hit a three-run home run off Murry Dickson of the Philadelphia Phillies in an 11-4 victory. It was his seventh home run of the season, breaking the National League record for home runs by a pitcher in a single year. The previous mark of six had been shared by Hal Schumacher of the New York Giants in 1934 and Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in 1942.

Newcombe was not just a pitcher who could hit. He was a genuine threat at the plate who batted .359 in 1955 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 117 at-bats. He finished his career with a .271 batting average and 15 home runs, numbers that placed him among the best-hitting pitchers in the history of the game.

The home run against the Phillies came during a dominant season on the mound as well. Newcombe went 20-5 with a 3.20 ERA in 1955, helping the Dodgers win the National League pennant. Brooklyn would go on to defeat the New York Yankees in the World Series that October, winning the franchise's first and only championship while based in Brooklyn.

Newcombe had broken into the majors in 1949, three years after Jackie Robinson integrated the sport. He was the first Black pitcher to start a World Series game, taking the mound for the Dodgers against the Yankees in Game One of the 1949 Fall Classic. He lost three years of his prime to military service during the Korean War, returning in 1954 and pitching at an elite level through 1956, when he won the Cy Young Award and the National League MVP.

The September 5 home run encapsulated what made Newcombe unusual. He could beat opponents with his arm and his bat, a two-way force on a team built to dominate.