Sports losses in 2019: Newcombe, Robinson, Starr, Havlicek

They ran the next legs, taking the baton from Jackie Robinson as black players claimed their place in the game.

The deaths in 2019 of Don Newcombe and Frank Robinson left baseball not only without two pillars on the diamond but two pillars in its fight against iniquities.

Newcombe, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, knew the sting of segregation traveling from city to city. Martin Luther King Jr., it is said, thanked him for making his work easier. Frank Robinson dared any pitcher to throw it his way and later set the course for black managers, starting with Cleveland in 1975.

Sports also lost part of the core of two dynasties — Bart Starr of the Green Bay Packers and John Havlicek of the Boston Celtics. One was immortalized for a sneak, the other for a steal.

Don Newcombe, 92

He came out of the Negro Leagues and played with Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, the three putting baseball on a testing path.

“We had to endure,” he said.

In his first season in 1949, Newcombe went 17-8 and was the NL Rookie of the Year. He won 20 games three times.

When that luminous day came for the Dodgers in 1955 — a World Series title after so many maddening Octobers — Newcombe was there. He went 20-5 that year, homering on the day of his 20th win. He was one of the best hitting pitchers.

The next year, the 6-foot-4 right-hander was 27-7, taking the first Cy Young honor and the NL MVP. Eventually, drinking diminished his talent. He moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn and later played for Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Frank Robinson, 83

He slid hard and played hard and knew how to make an entrance. In his first game as manager, a player-manager for the Cleveland Indians, Robinson homered in the first inning.

He was baseball’s first African American manager. He managed three...

source https://www.chron.com/news/article/Sports-losses-in-2019-Newcombe-Robinson-Starr-14937582.php