Tom Newell - 1988 Donruss
This guy would be hard to remember. He was the Phillies 24th round draft pick in 1983. Not a high pick (he was the 610th player chosen of 827 drafted that year) so I guess not a lot was expected of him.
According to the back of his card he was 8-12 with a 4.35 ERA and 128 strikeouts in Portland Maine when the Phillies brought him up on September 9, 1987. Since the Phillies finished 1987 with a 80-82 record and in 4th place in the NL East, its safe to say he wasn't brought up to help in a stretch drive for a pennant.
Newell pitched exactly 1 inning spread over 2 games. He gave up 4 hits (one a home run), walked 3 and struck out 1. Somehow he only gave up 4 runs (all earned) for a staggering ERA of 36.00. By September 18th he was gone. He was 24 years old.
Newell played for the Phillies in Reading and Portland in 1988. He appears to not have played anywhere in 1989 (injured perhaps?). In '90 and '91 he played in the Yankees farm system. He never made it back to the Majors.
Newell appears on one other baseball card I own, a card from the 1988 Fleer set where he appears as a Major League Prospect. Also on that card is another Phorgotten Phillie, Greg Jelks. Such was the state of the Phillies farm system in 1988.
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