John Newman

John Newman
John Newman
1913–1969

Category
Baseball
Year Inducted
1988
Perhaps the most popular baseball player ever to wear a uniform for the Jamestown Falcons was John Newman, known as "Big Jawn" because of his large frame which was well over 200 pounds.

Newman arrived in Jamestown in 1941 and became a big favorite by leading the NY-P League in batting (.358) and establishing a home run record with 29. That year the Falcons won the pennant but lost the Governor Cup Playoffs to Hamilton.

Newman repeated as batting champion (.353) and broke his own home run record with 30 as the Falcons won the pennant again and the playoffs in 1942. The popularity of Newman enabled the Falcons to set an attendance record of 122,801 in 1941 and an even better regular-season mark of 143,016 in 1942.

Born in Chicago on December 20, 1913, Newman was an outstanding athlete at Roosevelt High School where he captained the baseball and football teams. He pitched and played the outfield and in addition, he was an All-City guard in football.

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