"Try to make things better.”

RIP Don Newcombe, a giant of a man.

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ny-sports-don-newcombe-dodge...

Despite his inability to come up big in the World Series, there is perhaps no better example of how Newcombe was anything but a choker in big games than his performance in the closing days of the 1951 pennant race when the Giants came back from 13 ½ games in August to win the pennant from the Dodgers in a three-game playoff. After the Giants had caught the Dodgers on the last weekend of the season, Newcombe was assigned the “must-win” Saturday game against the Phillies – and responded by out-dueling Philadelphia ace Robin Roberts with a 4-0 shutout. The next day, Dodger manager Charlie Dressen brought him back again in relief against the Phillies and he hurled six more shutout innings in the eventual 14-inning Dodger win that enabled them to remain tied for first place. Three days later, Newcombe started the final playoff game against the Giants and held a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning before yielding to Ralph Branca, who lost the game on a three-run homer to Bobby Thomson. Within six days, Newcombe pitched 23 innings, in every one of which he could’ve lost the pennant.