Column: Before doubleheaders were short, Newcombe went long

One of my fondest baseball memories came just a few years ago when I got a chance to sit with Dodger royalty next to the third base dugout before a night game at Dodger Stadium.

It was Tommy Lasorda’s 88th birthday, and as usual he was telling stories and cracking jokes. Orel Hershiser was sitting in front of him, listening to his former skipper while trying to figure out just how much of the truth Lasorda was stretching on this night.

And, with a little prodding from Lasorda, Don Newcombe was talking about the time he started not one — but two — games in one day.

I had to go look it up later, but this was one implausible baseball story that was true. It was Sept. 6, 1950, and the Dodgers were in Philadelphia to play a twilight doubleheader against the Phillies at Shibe Park.

Newcombe took the ball and pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the opener, which the Dodgers won 2-0 in an efficient 2 hours and 15 minutes. As the teams prepared for the second game, there was a buzz as those in the crowd of 32,379 realized Newcombe was warming up in the bullpen to start Game 2.

He would go seven innings in the nightcap, allowing only two runs before watching the Dodgers rally in the ninth to win 3-2. His pitching line for the day: 16 IP, H 11, ER 2, BB 2, SO 3.

No one, of course, is going to do that again. Even in Newcombe’s era, where pitchers routinely finished the games they started, they didn’t start a second in the same day.

Not even with seven inning doubleheaders, something Newcombe didn’t live long enough to see.

They’re the rage all around baseball now, of course, in a season that seems to feature them almost every day. The Cardinals will play 11 of them after being hit hard by COVID-19, including six in a 14-day stretch beginning Saturday,...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Column-Before-doubleheaders-were-short-Newcombe-15531880.php