HE CALLED HIMSELF "BOBO"
BEING A FORMER PRO BASEBALL PLAYER MYSELF, I have always loved this guy. His real name was Louis Norman Newson. He liked to call himself Bobo, and liked calling everyone else Bobo, too. According to those who knew him best, Louis Norman seemed to have trouble recalling names. Other than that, he was a man of rare wit and wisdom. A few Americans, but very few, still have the humor that Bobo had. Most men like him have been dead-and-buried for a very long time.
So has Bobo.
He once said that he only played the game of baseball to put a little money in his pocket, just in case he wound up dead in an alley, and that the folks who found him that way wouldn't think he was just a plain ol' bum.
Bobo is mentioned in a poem by Ogden Nash called "Line-up for Yesterday," under the letter "N," which goes like this: "N is for Newsom...Bobo's favorite kin...if you ask how he got himself here...he talked his way in." His was the only name mentioned that never got into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And that probably wouldn't bother Bobo all that much. He had played for 8 major league teams from September of 1929 to September of 1953, and most likely figured that they didn't know where he was, in order to notify him as to whether he was in or out.
Once, he was out on the mound when young boy went face-to-face with him on a fiercely hot day way day way back in August of 1944. The boy was delivering a message from his Dad, Connie Mack, the owner and manager of the Philadelphia Atheletics, who simply wanted to notify Bobo that he was relieving him of his duties. Bobo listened quietly to the request, then replied: "Go tell your daddy to screw hisself! Tell him I'm stayin' right where I is!"
BEING A FORMER PRO BASEBALL PLAYER MYSELF, I have always loved this guy. His real name was Louis Norman Newson. He liked to call himself Bobo, and liked calling everyone else Bobo, too. According to those who knew him best, Louis Norman seemed to have trouble recalling names. Other than that, he was a man of rare wit and wisdom. A few Americans, but very few, still have the humor that Bobo had. Most men like him have been dead-and-buried for a very long time.
So has Bobo.
He once said that he only played the game of baseball to put a little money in his pocket, just in case he wound up dead in an alley, and that the folks who found him that way wouldn't think he was just a plain ol' bum.
Bobo is mentioned in a poem by Ogden Nash called "Line-up for Yesterday," under the letter "N," which goes like this: "N is for Newsom...Bobo's favorite kin...if you ask how he got himself here...he talked his way in." His was the only name mentioned that never got into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And that probably wouldn't bother Bobo all that much. He had played for 8 major league teams from September of 1929 to September of 1953, and most likely figured that they didn't know where he was, in order to notify him as to whether he was in or out.
Once, he was out on the mound when young boy went face-to-face with him on a fiercely hot day way day way back in August of 1944. The boy was delivering a message from his Dad, Connie Mack, the owner and manager of the Philadelphia Atheletics, who simply wanted to notify Bobo that he was relieving him of his duties. Bobo listened quietly to the request, then replied: "Go tell your daddy to screw hisself! Tell him I'm stayin' right where I is!"
And on another occasion, after Joe DiMaggio had whacked three doubles off of him, a reporter asked him how he felt about that. "Whaddya mean?" said Bobo "He didn't get no homers off of me, did he? A guy's gotta feel pretty damned good about that!"
Bobo was one of two pitchers who won 200 major league games and managed to lose more games than he won. His record was 211 wins and 222 losses. A good ol' boy from South Ca'lina, he once bragged that he had won 33 games in the Pacific Coast League back in 1932. The record book only showed 30. When asked about this, he said, "Who ya gonna believe, the record book, or the guy what did it?"
In contrast to most baseball players of his day, Bobo let everyone know what his opinions were, too. As a rookie with the Saint Louis Browns, he pitched a no-hitter, which he lost with two-outs in the tenth inning. When asked by a reporter how many no-hitters he'd pitched in his career, Bobo replied, "Just one, son. They don't grow in bunches like bananas, ya know."
I met the man back when I really wasn't a kid anymore. I was 23 and happened to be sitting in a Florida restaurant , when he came lumbering in. I introduced myself, informed him that I'd played a little pro ball myself, and the two of us began to talk.
He spoke about the bad games and the good games. About the heat in Saint Louis and the bad food in Washington and the booing fans of New York. And about the time when he was on the mound in Detroit. He pitched nine strikes in a row at breakneck speed. When asked why he was pitching so fast, he said, "I had to pee!"
He felt that the proudest moment of his career came in the season opener of 1936, because he had the honor of pitching in front of President Roosevelt. It seems he forgot to duck when his third-baseman zoomed a ball to first-base, and broke his jaw in three places. The manager came out to the mound to see if he was OK and if he wanted to be pulled. Bobo replied, "Ol' FDR came to see Bobo, and he's gonna see him all the way." He won the game 1-0.
He was downed by cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 55 back in 1962. I hope he is up in Heaven now, cracking jokes with ol' FDR.
Bobo was one of two pitchers who won 200 major league games and managed to lose more games than he won. His record was 211 wins and 222 losses. A good ol' boy from South Ca'lina, he once bragged that he had won 33 games in the Pacific Coast League back in 1932. The record book only showed 30. When asked about this, he said, "Who ya gonna believe, the record book, or the guy what did it?"
In contrast to most baseball players of his day, Bobo let everyone know what his opinions were, too. As a rookie with the Saint Louis Browns, he pitched a no-hitter, which he lost with two-outs in the tenth inning. When asked by a reporter how many no-hitters he'd pitched in his career, Bobo replied, "Just one, son. They don't grow in bunches like bananas, ya know."
I met the man back when I really wasn't a kid anymore. I was 23 and happened to be sitting in a Florida restaurant , when he came lumbering in. I introduced myself, informed him that I'd played a little pro ball myself, and the two of us began to talk.
He spoke about the bad games and the good games. About the heat in Saint Louis and the bad food in Washington and the booing fans of New York. And about the time when he was on the mound in Detroit. He pitched nine strikes in a row at breakneck speed. When asked why he was pitching so fast, he said, "I had to pee!"
He felt that the proudest moment of his career came in the season opener of 1936, because he had the honor of pitching in front of President Roosevelt. It seems he forgot to duck when his third-baseman zoomed a ball to first-base, and broke his jaw in three places. The manager came out to the mound to see if he was OK and if he wanted to be pulled. Bobo replied, "Ol' FDR came to see Bobo, and he's gonna see him all the way." He won the game 1-0.
He was downed by cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 55 back in 1962. I hope he is up in Heaven now, cracking jokes with ol' FDR.
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I am an elderly gentleman who had the pleasure of playing against "Bobo" on a number of occasions. The author of this piece, Mr. Daugs, has done on hell of a job in describing the man I once knew. Newsome was one of a kind and Mr. Daugs has written a most wonderful description of the man I once knew.
ReplyDeleteJake