By Jim Moyes
LocalSportsJournal.com
There perhaps has been no other Muskegon area athlete who was remembered less for his outstanding athletic achievements than the late Ray Newman.
A 1963 graduate of Muskegon High School, Newman wasn’t just an outstanding high school baseball pitcher, but one who made it all the way to the major leagues where he pitched for 3 years wearing a baseball uniform for the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. One could certainly ask the question on why isn’t Ray Newman in the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame?
Surely, Newman had the credentials to be inducted into the MASHOF, but Ray Newman did not experience a pleasant relationship with his town, classmates, or teammates during his childhood years here in Muskegon. To say that Newman was different and maybe misunderstood would be an understatement.
Several years ago, during one of our meetings with our Hall of Fame committee, Newman’s name was brought up for nomination. The first problem was how to contact Ray Newman? I took on the challenge of locating Newman and it wasn’t easy to say the least. I contacted many of his former teammates, classmates and even the chairman of the 1963 class reunion committee.
Nobody had a clue to this major leaguer’s whereabouts. Fortunately, through my membership in an organization titled SABR (Society for American Baseball Researchers) I made a plea to SABR members if anybody had a contact for Ray Newman. After receiving a phone number, I then called Ray at his workplace in Fort Myers, Fla. to inform him that he was being considered for induction into our Hall of Fame.
I was shocked with his response that I recorded and later played back to our committee at our next hall of fame meeting. Ray thanked me for the nomination, but brusquely informed me that he would not accept the honor. Newman informed me that he was honored to be considered, but that he wanted no part of returning to Muskegon as it left a bad taste in his mouth. Newman was even upset on how he was treated in organized ball despite making it all the way to the big show. To this day, Newman is the only athlete to turn down induction into our popular hall of fame.
According to a pair of former teammates interviewed for this story, as well as talks with many of his former classmates at Muskegon High over the years, Newman was a loner, with few, if any, known friends, but one who truly loved baseball.
At an early age, Newman displayed his potential as a pitcher. While in Little League, Newman was dominant, but as was often true with young hurlers before they reach their teenage years, he often had trouble with control. However, when he was on, he was nearly unhittable.
Perhaps his best outing as a 12-year-old little leaguer was a pitching duel he had with his future high school teammate Jim Johnson. Six innings were played in the game and neither had given up a run. Rules in the 1950s for Little League baseball dictated that no pitcher was allowed to pitch more than six innings.
Although Johnson and Newman were Little League standouts in the late 1950s, their accomplishments were often overshadowed by Little League phenom Larry Maxwell. Little League rivals in 1957, Maxwell and Newman hitched up in a pitcher’s duel to decide the Little League championship between teams from the East and West divisions. Newman pitched a no-hitter against Maxwell’s Muskegon Chronicle team yet lost the game. It was just the beginning of the saga and mystique of Ray Newman.
Maxwell ended up at Muskegon High School with Jim Johnson and Newman and would lead the Big Reds to a 22-1 record in their senior season of 1963. And what a 1-2 pitching combo Coach Harry Potter had at Muskegon High. Both Newman and Jim Johnson reached the pinnacle of success and pitch in the major leagues. And how rare is it that of the thousands of players who played in MLB to have two pitchers who graduated from their high school in the same year pitch in the major leagues? I was astonished when I did research a few years back to learn that this had happened only five times in MLB history.
It didn’t take long for Newman and Johnson to put their talents on display as in their very first game of the 1963 season they each pitched three hitless innings in a combined no-hitter in a 16-0 rout of Western Michigan Christian.
Newman was the hard-luck losing pitcher in Muskegon’s only loss during the 1963 season. The Big Reds lost in late April to Grand Haven 3-2 in extra innings, despite Newman giving up but one hit. Ironically, it was Grand Haven who ended Muskegon’s 55-game winning streak in the 1940s. Muskegon out hit the Bucs 6-1, but committed seven errors. To add insult to injury, after Muskegon had rallied to tie the game in the seventh inning, a pinch hitter was called out to end the inning for failing to report to the umpire. Later in the season when the Big Reds and Buccaneers met again Muskegon trounced Grand Haven 12-4 as Newman struck out 10 and got hitting help from Johnson and Maxwell, each with three RBI.
Newman and Johnson combined to win a doubleheader in the North Division of the Lake Michigan Athletic Conference playoffs played at Marsh Field. The Big Reds took care of Traverse City 8-3 in the opener behind the pitching of Newman. The lanky left-hander was less than his best as he gave up nine walks and even hit a batter, but received plenty of hitting help from his mates.
The second game was a pitching masterpiece that went nine innings before Muskegon’s Jim Johnson outlasted Muskegon Heights pitcher Tom Hylland. The Big Reds won 1-0 with the game winning run coming from a steal of home from Mike Abraham.
Coach Potter called on Newman to take the mound for the championship game. With Newman pitching, Potter was able to use Jim Johnson, the team’s MVP, in centerfield. Newman nearly threw a no-hitter, giving up but one hit as Muskegon crushed Holland 14-3. The big blow in the game was a towering home run that sailed far over the left-centerfield fence by Larry Rop.
I interviewed Larry Rop and Larry Maxwell for their memories of their teammate who had not seen Newman since their high school days. Rop and Maxwell had similar remembrances of their long-lost teammate. “He was different to be sure,” said Maxwell, a powerful hitter who hit several home runs at Muskegon High. “He went by many names, especially several not so pleasant names called his way from his opponent’s dugouts.”
Newman stood 6-4 with dark horn-rimmed glasses and the feature that was most noticeable was his abnormally large ears. Newman was the subject of many taunts from the bench jockeys from many years back. I too, that I now regret, called Newman ‘Dumbo’ when he played for the Muskegon Independents team managed by Benny Chambers during the summer season. But that was just of one the nasty slurs hurled his way.
I asked both Rop and Maxwell if this name calling could be interpreted as bullying in today’s era. “You know, when I now think about it, that’s very possible,” said Maxwell. “But boy, could he pitch. Jimmy and Ray were something else.”
Rop believed that the razzing of Newman by his opponents had an effect.
“The only time I saw Ray being abused with razzing was when he was on the mound. When he was not playing ball, or in school, I did not see that (bullying). “But then again, I didn’t see Ray that often. He was pretty much by himself, that’s just the way he was. He was kind of withdrawn, let’s put it that way,” said Rop. “He didn’t hang out with any of his teammates, or anybody else for that matter.”
Even though Newman was a hard-throwing pitcher during his teen years in Muskegon, unlike some of his talented teammates like Maxwell and Johnson, he was not invited to play on the best summer league teams. The Zephyr Gas team from the early 1960s recorded more than 60 wins in a row without a defeat and featured the cream of the crop of local high school players, but Newman was not on the team. Nor was Newman invited to play for the Muskegon Pepsis, the dominant adult city league team of that era.
However, Newman’s talents were not missed by the Detroit Tigers scouting department as he was signed as a free agent the following spring. Newman would then begin a career in professional baseball that would see him pitch a full decade, with three of those years pitching at the highest level in baseball, the Major Leagues. Although Newman had realized his dream of playing professional baseball, he left Muskegon with very few pleasant memories and would rarely return to his hometown.
Newman made an early splash as a rookie pitcher in the Tiger’s farm system when he pitched a 1-0 shutout, allowing nary a hit while striking out 11 in seven innings or work. On the dark side he made his catcher, recent Hall of Fame Tiger legend Jim Leyland work hard behind the plate as he walked seven batters.
Newman’s career in the Tiger organization was short-lived as he was drafted away from the Tigers in 1965 by the Chicago Cubs. After toiling 6 years in the minor leagues, Newman got the call to the Big Show on May 16, 1971, almost an exact year later than his Muskegon High classmate Jim Johnson pitched in the Major League for the San Francisco Giants.
Newman came on in relief of future West Michigan manager Jim Colburn with the Cubs trailing 7-2 and pitched two scoreless innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter. The Cubs would rally to defeat San Diego 9-8 with the big blow a two-run home run from Jim Hickman in the 10th inning to give the Cubs the walk-off victory. Interestingly enough, Colburn wasn’t the only pitcher used by the Cubs in this game who would become Whitecap managers as Phil Regan also was used by Cub manager Leo Durocher in the win.
There can be little doubt as to the highlight game in Newman’s major league career. Newman’s first of his three wins as a Big Leaguer was memorable to say the least. With 32,000 fans on hand at Wrigley Field on July 18, 1971, Newman came on in relief of Milt Pappas with the score tied at 4-4 and Rusty Staub at second base with nobody out. Newman then struck out Ron Fairly, Bob Bailey and Ron Woods to keep the score tied. Newman faced 15 batters in five innings of work, and none reached base as Newman was credited with his first win as a big-league pitcher. Newman finished the season with a 1-2 record with a respectable ERA of 3.52.
The following March, Newman was traded by the Cubs to the Milwaukee Brewers where he pitched in two seasons for Milwaukee. Following the 1973 season Newman was traded to the Tigers, but did not make it back to the parent club as his final two years were spent at Triple-A Evansville, the place of his birth on June 20, 1945.
Following his release from organized ball by the Tigers in 1975, Newman’s whereabouts was a mystery to his teammates. Both Maxwell and Rop said that most likely the last time they had seen or heard from Ray Newman was their last game on the ballfield. The only known time that Newman ever returned to the Port City was to attend the funeral of his father several years ago. If Newman indeed had a friend in Muskegon, it was his father who was Newman’s mentor, and even his manager as a youngster in Pony League ball.
Newman not only acquired a lasting, and disparate image with his teammates, but also with his manager of the Cubs, Leo Durocher. Leo ‘The Lip” was in baseball for nearly 50 years. As a player, he played for the mighty New York Yankees during the Babe Ruth era. Durocher also played for the Gas House gang of the St. Louis Cardinals that featured such baseball eccentrics as Pepper Martin and Dizzy and Daffy Dean.
Durocher won more than 2,000 game as a major league manager and played against hundreds, if not thousands, of players. However, there was one player who clearly stood out in his published book from 1974 “Nice Guys Finish Last” - Ray Newman. To be kind to Ray, let’s just say that Durocher said that Newman was the ‘oddest player’ he ever game across that he penned in his biography. The one trait that stood out for Durocher was that Newman would ride his bike daily to Wrigley Field through the bustling streets of Chicago.
To add to the mystique of Ray Newman, I should bring up an incident during the cross-country season of 1972. As Larry Rop pointed out to me in our interview for this story, he praised Newman as a great athlete.
Ray Newman’s first love was baseball, but he did participate in cross country for Coach Tom McShannock’s Big Reds in the fall of 1962. Ray was no slouch as he placed 10th in the Lake Michigan Conference championship, one spot ahead of Muskegon Height’s distance runner Ruvell Martin. Yes, the same Ruvell Martin, who was the father of recent Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame inductee of the same name who prepped at Muskegon Catholic and later served as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
“The only thing I remember about Ray other than his pitching was that he ran cross country and in one meet he ran into a tree and knocked himself out. I wasn’t there but I heard about it. It was talked about at school for a long time,” Martin said.
Just recently while browsing through an e-mail from a fellow SABR member, I was stunned when it was announced that Ray Newman had passed away on May 5 - in 2023. Normally when a former MLB player passes away it is known immediately. But, true to form, embellishing the legacy of Ray Newman, neither Maxwell, Rop and perhaps all his former classmates and teammates had not known of Newman’s passing.
Ray Newman’s achievements as a Major League pitcher surely is worthy of being inducted into our prestigious Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame. How I wish he would have accepted our invite. And how I now regret for ever calling one of Muskegon’s all-time great athletes ‘Dumbo.’
RIP Ray Newman.
LocalSportsJournal.com
There perhaps has been no other Muskegon area athlete who was remembered less for his outstanding athletic achievements than the late Ray Newman.
A 1963 graduate of Muskegon High School, Newman wasn’t just an outstanding high school baseball pitcher, but one who made it all the way to the major leagues where he pitched for 3 years wearing a baseball uniform for the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. One could certainly ask the question on why isn’t Ray Newman in the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame?
Surely, Newman had the credentials to be inducted into the MASHOF, but Ray Newman did not experience a pleasant relationship with his town, classmates, or teammates during his childhood years here in Muskegon. To say that Newman was different and maybe misunderstood would be an understatement.
Several years ago, during one of our meetings with our Hall of Fame committee, Newman’s name was brought up for nomination. The first problem was how to contact Ray Newman? I took on the challenge of locating Newman and it wasn’t easy to say the least. I contacted many of his former teammates, classmates and even the chairman of the 1963 class reunion committee.
Nobody had a clue to this major leaguer’s whereabouts. Fortunately, through my membership in an organization titled SABR (Society for American Baseball Researchers) I made a plea to SABR members if anybody had a contact for Ray Newman. After receiving a phone number, I then called Ray at his workplace in Fort Myers, Fla. to inform him that he was being considered for induction into our Hall of Fame.
I was shocked with his response that I recorded and later played back to our committee at our next hall of fame meeting. Ray thanked me for the nomination, but brusquely informed me that he would not accept the honor. Newman informed me that he was honored to be considered, but that he wanted no part of returning to Muskegon as it left a bad taste in his mouth. Newman was even upset on how he was treated in organized ball despite making it all the way to the big show. To this day, Newman is the only athlete to turn down induction into our popular hall of fame.
According to a pair of former teammates interviewed for this story, as well as talks with many of his former classmates at Muskegon High over the years, Newman was a loner, with few, if any, known friends, but one who truly loved baseball.
At an early age, Newman displayed his potential as a pitcher. While in Little League, Newman was dominant, but as was often true with young hurlers before they reach their teenage years, he often had trouble with control. However, when he was on, he was nearly unhittable.
Perhaps his best outing as a 12-year-old little leaguer was a pitching duel he had with his future high school teammate Jim Johnson. Six innings were played in the game and neither had given up a run. Rules in the 1950s for Little League baseball dictated that no pitcher was allowed to pitch more than six innings.
Although Johnson and Newman were Little League standouts in the late 1950s, their accomplishments were often overshadowed by Little League phenom Larry Maxwell. Little League rivals in 1957, Maxwell and Newman hitched up in a pitcher’s duel to decide the Little League championship between teams from the East and West divisions. Newman pitched a no-hitter against Maxwell’s Muskegon Chronicle team yet lost the game. It was just the beginning of the saga and mystique of Ray Newman.
Maxwell ended up at Muskegon High School with Jim Johnson and Newman and would lead the Big Reds to a 22-1 record in their senior season of 1963. And what a 1-2 pitching combo Coach Harry Potter had at Muskegon High. Both Newman and Jim Johnson reached the pinnacle of success and pitch in the major leagues. And how rare is it that of the thousands of players who played in MLB to have two pitchers who graduated from their high school in the same year pitch in the major leagues? I was astonished when I did research a few years back to learn that this had happened only five times in MLB history.
It didn’t take long for Newman and Johnson to put their talents on display as in their very first game of the 1963 season they each pitched three hitless innings in a combined no-hitter in a 16-0 rout of Western Michigan Christian.
Newman was the hard-luck losing pitcher in Muskegon’s only loss during the 1963 season. The Big Reds lost in late April to Grand Haven 3-2 in extra innings, despite Newman giving up but one hit. Ironically, it was Grand Haven who ended Muskegon’s 55-game winning streak in the 1940s. Muskegon out hit the Bucs 6-1, but committed seven errors. To add insult to injury, after Muskegon had rallied to tie the game in the seventh inning, a pinch hitter was called out to end the inning for failing to report to the umpire. Later in the season when the Big Reds and Buccaneers met again Muskegon trounced Grand Haven 12-4 as Newman struck out 10 and got hitting help from Johnson and Maxwell, each with three RBI.
Newman and Johnson combined to win a doubleheader in the North Division of the Lake Michigan Athletic Conference playoffs played at Marsh Field. The Big Reds took care of Traverse City 8-3 in the opener behind the pitching of Newman. The lanky left-hander was less than his best as he gave up nine walks and even hit a batter, but received plenty of hitting help from his mates.
The second game was a pitching masterpiece that went nine innings before Muskegon’s Jim Johnson outlasted Muskegon Heights pitcher Tom Hylland. The Big Reds won 1-0 with the game winning run coming from a steal of home from Mike Abraham.
Coach Potter called on Newman to take the mound for the championship game. With Newman pitching, Potter was able to use Jim Johnson, the team’s MVP, in centerfield. Newman nearly threw a no-hitter, giving up but one hit as Muskegon crushed Holland 14-3. The big blow in the game was a towering home run that sailed far over the left-centerfield fence by Larry Rop.
I interviewed Larry Rop and Larry Maxwell for their memories of their teammate who had not seen Newman since their high school days. Rop and Maxwell had similar remembrances of their long-lost teammate. “He was different to be sure,” said Maxwell, a powerful hitter who hit several home runs at Muskegon High. “He went by many names, especially several not so pleasant names called his way from his opponent’s dugouts.”
Newman stood 6-4 with dark horn-rimmed glasses and the feature that was most noticeable was his abnormally large ears. Newman was the subject of many taunts from the bench jockeys from many years back. I too, that I now regret, called Newman ‘Dumbo’ when he played for the Muskegon Independents team managed by Benny Chambers during the summer season. But that was just of one the nasty slurs hurled his way.
I asked both Rop and Maxwell if this name calling could be interpreted as bullying in today’s era. “You know, when I now think about it, that’s very possible,” said Maxwell. “But boy, could he pitch. Jimmy and Ray were something else.”
Rop believed that the razzing of Newman by his opponents had an effect.
“The only time I saw Ray being abused with razzing was when he was on the mound. When he was not playing ball, or in school, I did not see that (bullying). “But then again, I didn’t see Ray that often. He was pretty much by himself, that’s just the way he was. He was kind of withdrawn, let’s put it that way,” said Rop. “He didn’t hang out with any of his teammates, or anybody else for that matter.”
Even though Newman was a hard-throwing pitcher during his teen years in Muskegon, unlike some of his talented teammates like Maxwell and Johnson, he was not invited to play on the best summer league teams. The Zephyr Gas team from the early 1960s recorded more than 60 wins in a row without a defeat and featured the cream of the crop of local high school players, but Newman was not on the team. Nor was Newman invited to play for the Muskegon Pepsis, the dominant adult city league team of that era.
However, Newman’s talents were not missed by the Detroit Tigers scouting department as he was signed as a free agent the following spring. Newman would then begin a career in professional baseball that would see him pitch a full decade, with three of those years pitching at the highest level in baseball, the Major Leagues. Although Newman had realized his dream of playing professional baseball, he left Muskegon with very few pleasant memories and would rarely return to his hometown.
Newman made an early splash as a rookie pitcher in the Tiger’s farm system when he pitched a 1-0 shutout, allowing nary a hit while striking out 11 in seven innings or work. On the dark side he made his catcher, recent Hall of Fame Tiger legend Jim Leyland work hard behind the plate as he walked seven batters.
Newman’s career in the Tiger organization was short-lived as he was drafted away from the Tigers in 1965 by the Chicago Cubs. After toiling 6 years in the minor leagues, Newman got the call to the Big Show on May 16, 1971, almost an exact year later than his Muskegon High classmate Jim Johnson pitched in the Major League for the San Francisco Giants.
Newman came on in relief of future West Michigan manager Jim Colburn with the Cubs trailing 7-2 and pitched two scoreless innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter. The Cubs would rally to defeat San Diego 9-8 with the big blow a two-run home run from Jim Hickman in the 10th inning to give the Cubs the walk-off victory. Interestingly enough, Colburn wasn’t the only pitcher used by the Cubs in this game who would become Whitecap managers as Phil Regan also was used by Cub manager Leo Durocher in the win.
There can be little doubt as to the highlight game in Newman’s major league career. Newman’s first of his three wins as a Big Leaguer was memorable to say the least. With 32,000 fans on hand at Wrigley Field on July 18, 1971, Newman came on in relief of Milt Pappas with the score tied at 4-4 and Rusty Staub at second base with nobody out. Newman then struck out Ron Fairly, Bob Bailey and Ron Woods to keep the score tied. Newman faced 15 batters in five innings of work, and none reached base as Newman was credited with his first win as a big-league pitcher. Newman finished the season with a 1-2 record with a respectable ERA of 3.52.
The following March, Newman was traded by the Cubs to the Milwaukee Brewers where he pitched in two seasons for Milwaukee. Following the 1973 season Newman was traded to the Tigers, but did not make it back to the parent club as his final two years were spent at Triple-A Evansville, the place of his birth on June 20, 1945.
Following his release from organized ball by the Tigers in 1975, Newman’s whereabouts was a mystery to his teammates. Both Maxwell and Rop said that most likely the last time they had seen or heard from Ray Newman was their last game on the ballfield. The only known time that Newman ever returned to the Port City was to attend the funeral of his father several years ago. If Newman indeed had a friend in Muskegon, it was his father who was Newman’s mentor, and even his manager as a youngster in Pony League ball.
Newman not only acquired a lasting, and disparate image with his teammates, but also with his manager of the Cubs, Leo Durocher. Leo ‘The Lip” was in baseball for nearly 50 years. As a player, he played for the mighty New York Yankees during the Babe Ruth era. Durocher also played for the Gas House gang of the St. Louis Cardinals that featured such baseball eccentrics as Pepper Martin and Dizzy and Daffy Dean.
Durocher won more than 2,000 game as a major league manager and played against hundreds, if not thousands, of players. However, there was one player who clearly stood out in his published book from 1974 “Nice Guys Finish Last” - Ray Newman. To be kind to Ray, let’s just say that Durocher said that Newman was the ‘oddest player’ he ever game across that he penned in his biography. The one trait that stood out for Durocher was that Newman would ride his bike daily to Wrigley Field through the bustling streets of Chicago.
To add to the mystique of Ray Newman, I should bring up an incident during the cross-country season of 1972. As Larry Rop pointed out to me in our interview for this story, he praised Newman as a great athlete.
Ray Newman’s first love was baseball, but he did participate in cross country for Coach Tom McShannock’s Big Reds in the fall of 1962. Ray was no slouch as he placed 10th in the Lake Michigan Conference championship, one spot ahead of Muskegon Height’s distance runner Ruvell Martin. Yes, the same Ruvell Martin, who was the father of recent Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame inductee of the same name who prepped at Muskegon Catholic and later served as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
“The only thing I remember about Ray other than his pitching was that he ran cross country and in one meet he ran into a tree and knocked himself out. I wasn’t there but I heard about it. It was talked about at school for a long time,” Martin said.
Just recently while browsing through an e-mail from a fellow SABR member, I was stunned when it was announced that Ray Newman had passed away on May 5 - in 2023. Normally when a former MLB player passes away it is known immediately. But, true to form, embellishing the legacy of Ray Newman, neither Maxwell, Rop and perhaps all his former classmates and teammates had not known of Newman’s passing.
Ray Newman’s achievements as a Major League pitcher surely is worthy of being inducted into our prestigious Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame. How I wish he would have accepted our invite. And how I now regret for ever calling one of Muskegon’s all-time great athletes ‘Dumbo.’
RIP Ray Newman.
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