On This Day

Detroit Tigers pitcher Hal Newhouser is named American League MVP

Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player.

Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher from 1939 to 1955, most notably for the Detroit Tigers, where he was selected for seven straight All-Star Games from 1942 to 1948. He became the first pitcher to win the Most Valuable Player Award twice in consecutive years, winning in 1944 and 1945. Newhouser was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1992 and his number 16 was retired by the Detroit Tigers in 1997.

Newhouser was highly regarded by Tigers scout Wish Egan, who ended up signing him for his hometown club for the 1939 season.

Historical Significance

Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player.

Events Before

  1. German officer Claus von Stauffenberg is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel

    Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German army officer who is best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair, part of…

  2. Negro Baseball League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous breakdown and is admitted to the hospital for rest and treatmen

    Negro Baseball League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous breakdown and is admitted to the hospital for rest and treatment; he is released in time for preseason training

  3. Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies

    Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies

  4. Soviets announce they have broken the long siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany by opening a narrow land corridor, though

    Soviets announce they have broken the long siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany by opening a narrow land corridor, though the siege is not fully lifted until a year later

  5. German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to Soviet troops at Stalingrad

    Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (23 September 1890 – 1 February 1957) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) during World War II who is best known for his surrender of the German 6th Army…

Events After

  1. German air raid on Allied airfields at Eindhoven, Saint-Trond, and Brussels

    German air raid on Allied airfields at Eindhoven, Saint-Trond, and Brussels

  2. Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for an unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated fourth term as US President

    Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for an unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated fourth term as US President

  3. Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland - now commemorated as International Holocau

    Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland - now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day [1]

  4. WWII: US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manila in the Philippines after a month-long battle, ending three

    WWII: US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manila in the Philippines after a month-long battle, ending three years of Japanese military occupation

  5. Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josep

    Declaration of Liberated Europe is signed at the Yalta Conference by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, declaring that liberated nations are to establish democratic governments through free elections

More from the 1940s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on November 28, 1944?
Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher from 1939 to 1955, most notably for the Detroit Tigers, where he was selected for seven straight All-Star Games from 1942 to 1948. He became the first pitcher to win the Most Valuable Player Award twice in consecutive years, winning in 1944 and 1945.
Why is Detroit Tigers pitcher Hal Newhouser is named American League MVP significant?
Harold Newhouser (May 20, 1921 – November 10, 1998), nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player.

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