Primary Positions: Left field, third base
Birthplace: Greensboro
First, Middle Names: Elmer Ralph
Date of Birth: Feb. 10, 1915 Date and Place of Death: Oct. 4, 2011, Burlington, NC
Burial: Guilford Memorial Park, Greensboro
High School: Jamestown High School, Jamestown, NC
College: Did Not Attend
Bats: L Throws: R Height and Weight: 5-10, 167
Debut Year: 1939 Final Year: 1948 Years Played: 6
Teams and Years: Boston Bees 1939; Chicago White Sox 1943-44, 1946-48
Career Summary
G AB H R RBI HR BA. OBP. SLG. WAR
530 1689 481 198 188 4 .285 .330 .367 5.1
Awards/Honors: Boys of Summer Top 100
When he took the mound at Briggs Stadium in Detroit on that cold, windy April day for his second start of the 1947 season, Hal Newhouser could legitimately claim to be the best pitcher in the American League. Playing for his hometown Tigers, the 26-year-old lefty had won 80 games over the past three years and two Most-Valuable Player Awards.
The pitcher who faced the visiting Chicago White Sox on that April day, however, wasn’t that Hal Newhouser. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe the stiff wind blowing off Lake Erie carried with it the raw rookie, the wild Newhouser of 1939 or ’40 who walked six or seven batters a game.