Doc Newton

Note: This page discusses 1900s pitcher Doc Newton. For the college coach of the same name, click here.

Eustace James Newton

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut April 27, 1900
• Final Game May 7, 1909
• Born October 26, 1877 in Mount Carmel, IN USA
• Died May 14, 1931 in Memphis, TN USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Newton in 1906.

Eustace "Doc" Newton pitched eight seasons in the big leagues and was also in the minors for 17 years. In his best year in the majors, he went 15-14 for the Brooklyn Superbas in 1902, while in his most notable minor league year he went 39-17 for the 1904 Los Angeles Looloos.

Newton was born in Mount Carmel, IN in 1877. Through 2009 he is the only major leaguer born in Mount Carmel.

In the early years, newspapers tended to refer to him as Eustace, and later as "Doctor" or Doc.

Doc pitched for Norfolk in both 1897 and 1898 along with a few games for Reading in 1898. In 1899 he was with Indianapolis before coming to the majors in 1900.

Newton, at age 22, was one of the youngest pitchers on the Cincinnati Reds in 1900. Other than 21-year-old Noodles Hahn, no pitcher on the staff was younger than 27. Among the position players, however, Harry Steinfeldt was 22 and Sam Crawford was 20.

With the Reds in 1901 Newton was 4-13 during the first half of the season before being released. The Superbas picked him up quickly, and his ERA improved to 2.83 while he posted a 6-5 record for them.

Although Doc had the best ERA among the starting rotation of the 1902 Superbas, he did not stay on the team in 1903, going instead to play for the Angels in L.A. He split 1903 between L.A. and Portland, winning 35 games, and in 1904 he won 39 more for L.A. Although the stats show that he split 1903 between L.A. and Portland, in reality he was with the L.A. Angels, except for one game in which, as a publicity stunt, pitchers for each team changed sides. He also umpired one National League game in 1902.

MILB.com says that Newton was a well-known drinking man who supposedly got better the more he drank. He apparently once fell off the mound totally drunk and was removed from the game.

In 1905 he came back to the majors, playing from 1905 to 1909 with the New York Highlanders, although he also played part of 1907 to 1909 in the minors with Montreal, Newark and Toronto. The Highlanders were managed by Clark Griffith during most of his time with the team, and while the Highlanders usually were under .500, in 1906 they won 90 games. Doc went 7-5 that year.

After spending 1910 with Toronto, he spent four more years playing in the South, with Memphis and then Chattanooga. In later years he also managed a couple of teams in the deep South.

He died in Memphis, TN in 1931 and is buried in Indianapolis, IN.

"Big Doc Newton, whose return to fame via Montreal was so startling, was the winner of a torrid pitchers' battle against George Mullin." - Sporting Life, August 10, 1907, about a game against the pennant-winning 1907 Tigers

Notable Achievements

• 15 Wins Seasons: 1 (1902)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 3 (1900-1902)

Related Sites

• Doc Newton at the SABR Bio Project