Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal," was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

player. In

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB), he pitched 17 seasons on the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

, from 1939 through 1955. Newhouser was an All-Star for six seasons and was considered to be the most dominating pitcher of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

era of baseball, winning the

pitching triple crown In baseball, a player earns a Triple Crown when he leads a league in three specific statistical categories in the same season. The term "Triple Crown" generally refers to the batting achievement of leading a league in batting average, home runs, ...

for the Tigers in 1945. To date, he is also the only pitcher in MLB history ever to win two consecutive MVP awards. Newhouser was inducted into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

in 1992. After his retirement from baseball, Newhouser stepped away from the sport for 20 years, serving as a bank vice president. He later worked as a scout for several MLB teams, including the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

. Angered when they rebuffed his recommendation to draft future Hall of Famer

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

in favor of

Phil Nevin Phillip Joseph Nevin (born January 19, 1971) is an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He is the manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for 12 seasons, appearing in 1,217 gam ...

, he quit shortly after.

Early life

Newhouser was a schoolboy star at Wilbur Wright High School in his hometown of

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Before he was approached by professional baseball teams, he had been saving money to attend a trade school by working several jobs. The young Newhouser sold newspapers, collected pop bottles and worked in a bowling alley before signing on in professional baseball. He was signed by the

in at the age of 18. A Tigers scout offered a $500 signing bonus to Newhouser, who found the sum of money to be unimaginable. Ten minutes after he signed, someone arrived from the

; that employee had been prepared to offer $15,000 to his parents in addition to a $4,000 car.

Playing career

Early career

Newhouser made his debut for Detroit on September 29, 1939. In , he earned a spot on the Tigers out of spring training. In his first two full big-league seasons, the young left-hander experienced control problems, walking more batters than he struck out while posting

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

s of 9–9 and 9–11. He improved in and , posting excellent

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

s (ERAs), but he still lost more than he won on a team with a weak offense. As World War II got under way, the Tigers moved up in the standings because several of their top players, including Newhouser, were classified as 4-F (ineligible to be drafted). Newhouser was 4-F due to a leaky heart valve; he attempted to join the service anyway but was turned down several times. He blossomed in , becoming a dominant pitcher in wartime baseball. That season, Newhouser rang up a 29–9 record, leading the league in wins and strikeouts (187). His 2.22 ERA was second in the league, as were his 25 complete games and six shutouts. The Tigers jumped into contention, finishing second in the American League, with Newhouser named MVP. Newhouser won the first Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award in 1944. Pitcher of the Year By the season, Newhouser had been selected for three consecutive AL All-Star teams. The 1945 All-Star Game was cancelled on April 24 because of travel restrictions and seven out of eight scheduled interleague games were played in place of the All-Star Game on July 9 and 10 to support the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the des ...

and War Relief fund. Newhouser became the first pitcher to repeat as MVP that season and helped the team win the World Series. He won the pitcher's Triple Crown, leading the AL in wins (25, against nine losses), ERA (1.81) and strikeouts (212); he also led the league in innings pitched, games started, complete games and shutouts. Newhouser pitched four innings of relief on the season's final day as Detroit rallied for the pennant. Newhouser won the second Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award. He became the youngest player (24) to win the award in two consecutive years. In that year's World Series against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

, Newhouser won two games, including a complete-game victory in the deciding seventh game.

Later career

In , he went 26–9 with a 1.94 ERA, again leading the league in wins and ERA. His 275 strikeouts was second in the league. Newhouser was runner-up in the MVP race to

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 193 ...

. Newhouser continued to rate among the game's best pitchers for the next five years. He won 17 games in , led the AL with 21 wins in and rang up an 18–11 mark in . After a 15–13 season in , he hurt his arm and his workload was cut significantly. After being released by the Tigers following the season, Newhouser signed on with the

and was their top long reliever in , when Cleveland won 111 games and the pennant. In his final big-league hurrah, he posted a 7–2 mark with a 2.54 ERA, and got to pitch in his second World Series. He ended his career with a record of 207–150 and a 3.06 ERA. He is the only pitcher ever to win consecutive MVP awards. As a hitter, Newhouser had a .201 career batting average (201-for-999) with 70 runs, 2

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 81 RBI and 89

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Sec ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .971

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

covering 488

games pitched In baseball statistics, games pitched (denoted by Games G in tables of only pitching statistics) is the number of games in which a player appears as a pitcher; a player who is announced as the pitcher must face at least one batter, although excep ...

. Newhouser tried to vary his pitch selection. Even if he threw a batter the same variety of pitch twice in a row, he would always change speeds slightly, to keep the hitters guessing.

Later life

Newhouser spent his first 20 years after retiring from baseball away from the sport, working as a bank vice president in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Found ...

. Eventually, he served as a scout for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and

. As a scout with the Orioles, Newhouser discovered Milt Pappas, a Detroit high schooler who went on to win 209 games in an All-Star career—two more than Newhouser did. He also signed future

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...

winner Dean Chance, who later earned the trophy with the Los Angeles Angels in 1964. While with the Astros, Newhouser was credited with discovering

, whom the Astros passed over for

. He quit his job with the Astros after they ignored his advice to draft Jeter, though he had planned to retire after that season in any case. In , he was elected to the

. His induction class included Tom Seaver,

Rollie Fingers Roland Glen Fingers (born August 25, 1946) is an American former right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three teams between 1968 and 1985, when his effectiveness helped to redefine the value of relievers within baseba ...

and Bill McGowan. The ceremony was attended by a then-record-setting crowd of 20,000 people. The Tigers retired Newhouser's number 16 in . He died on November 10, 1998, in a hospital in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was original ...

. He had been ill with

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alv ...

and heart problems.

Personal life

Newhouser was married to his wife, the former Beryl Margaret Steele (1922–2012), from 1941 until his death. They had two daughters, Charlene and Sherrill. During his playing days, Newhouser's teammates nicknamed him "Prince Hal" because of the way he carried himself.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Hal Newhouser Oral History Interview (1 of 2) - National Baseball Hall of Fame Digital CollectionHal Newhouser Oral History Interview (2 of 2) - National Baseball hall of Fame Digital Collection
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newhouser, Hal National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees American League All-Stars American League ERA champions American League strikeout champions American League wins champions American League Pitching Triple Crown winners Detroit Tigers players Cleveland Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Detroit Murray–Wright High School alumni Major League Baseball players with retired numbers Alexandria Aces players Beaumont Exporters players Houston Astros scouts Baltimore Orioles scouts Cleveland Indians scouts Detroit Tigers scouts 1921 births 1998 deaths American League Most Valuable Player Award winners Respiratory disease deaths in Michigan Deaths from emphysema