1953 Topps Project - Post #35

#15 - Bobo Newsom - Philadelphia Athletics

I'm returning to the 1953 Topps project with a card I picked up a long time ago, Bobo "Buck" Newsom of the Philadelphia Athletics. Bobo's career spanned 20 seasons in the big leagues, which is about how long it's going to take me to finish this project, if I ever do.

Newsom actually put together some pretty impressive career statistics, although the totals are no doubt inflated by the fact the he stuck around in the majors so long. For every good year he had, he had a bad one, or a couple of average ones, and the result is that his career stats are about as bad as they are good.

He amassed an impressive 211 career wins, good for 89th all time and finished with a sub-4.00 ERA. He lost even more games than he won though, dropping 222. Looking at his stats, your jaw might drop when you read that he has 2,082 career strikeouts. You'll see a number greater than 1,700 in the walk column though. He won 20 games 3 times, and he lost 20 games 3 times. I can't help thinking of the Seinfeld where Jerry keeps breaking even and Kramer dubs him "Even Steven".

Sadly, Bobo passed away due to cirrhosis of the liver at age 55, just 9 years after hanging up the spikes.