Mr. Fricano, meet Mr. Newsom. A-W-K-W-A-R-D

Uncommon commons. Contemporary accounts of tidbits that as a collector of baseball and football cards I found interesting because they helped bring to life the faces on the cards I collected. I figure that if I found these items of interest, so would other vintage card collectors.

When peripatetic pitcher Bobo Newsom entered the clubhouse of the Philadelphia Athletics in mid-June, 1952, he didn't need to be introduced to moundmate Marion Fricano, who had joined the team a month earlier.

The pair had pitched in the Southern Association the previous year . . . and Fricano had committed upon Newsom an unforgivable breach of the baseball players' unwritten code of conduct.

There were two out in the bottom of the ninth inning when Mobile Bears pitcher Marion Fricano came to the plate. On the mound, 43-year-old Birmingham Barons pitcher Bobo Newsom was holding onto a 1-0 lead. He also had a no-hitter going.

Desperate to give himself a chance to win the game, and with two strikes on him, Fricano laid down a bunt single, breaking up the no-hitter. The next batter up doubled, but Newsom hung on for the shutout win.

When the two became teammates the following year, Newsom had to make nice with Fricano for the benefit of the local press, but being an old-school southern ballplayer it seems doubtful he really forgave Fricano for the faux pas.