Belvidere Daily Republican, Sat. April 28, 1973
Baseball’s only all-brother team
It was ‘play ball’ for the entire Newell family
John Smith, Sports Editor
I’ve heard the story before. There was the great depression of the 1930s. Growing up in a large family when money was scarce. Or hugging bread lines downtown.
During those times when newspapers would run chilling accounts of ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd killing a patrolman while kicking in a bank in Bowling Green, Ohio. Or Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker gunning down two motorcycle cops near Grapevine, Texas. Or Johnny Dillinger busting out of the Crown Point jail in Lake County, Ind. using only a wooden pistol.
But if you lived in Plankington, South Dakota, you could be thrilled by reading accounts of your local heroes… the Newell Nine.
The Newell Nine? That was the first and only all-brother baseball team. There was Dell, Bill, Den, Lee, Leslie, Elmer, Dee, Gussie, Gilbert and Faye. They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Dell Newell.
The brother act traveled all over South Dakota in those days playing in Plankington, White Lake, Mt. Vernon, Stickney and other towns at July 4th celebrations. They played everyone from local volunteer fire departments to top-notch semi-pro teams.
No bread line
And they made money, usually $10 per player per game. It was a living. It was better than selling apples or standing in bread lines.
Two of the brothers, Gilbert and Faye, live in Belvidere. A third, Elmer (Muggs), resides with his daughter in Rockford but is in Belvidere enough to make his presence known.
Faye, a 67-year-old employee of the Belvidere Water Dept., brought the team’s presence to this writer’s attention last week.
“You didn’t know about us?” Faye said with a grin and immediately started retelling the story of the depression, a house full of kids and their love for baseball.
“A sport writer from Sioux Falls put us all in a shoe, did a little story and sent it all over. That got the ball rolling,” Faye said.
“The store and picture appeared in the Pittsburgh Press, the Dayton paper, all over the country.”
And soon the whole country was talking about the Newell Nine, a baseball team born in a shoe.
The original story, which appeared in most dailies, went like this.
Dad Newell
-Plankington, SD, August 23- Like the resourceful matron of the fairy tale who solved the housing problem by moving into a commodious shoe, Dad Newell of this city plans a similar abode.
Except that he will insist that it be a baseball shoe.
You see, Dad Newell is manager of the Newell baseball team and it is made up entirely and exclusively of his sons, even unto Louis, the tiny mascot.
Dad Newell admits the family is rather large but says there is nothing unusual in the boys-all 11 of them being ball players.
“They’ve practically lived in baseball shoes all their lives,” he tells you.
The Newells have been playing together as a team for three years now. The oldest “boy” is 36, the youngest 14. They have a game scheduled for every Sunday this summer and are immensely popular as an attraction.-
And so the popularity of the Newell Nine began to spread across the country.
“We would play together as a team or sometimes for other teams,” said Gilbert when asked about the brother act. “Two or three of us would play for other teams and make $10 per game.
Not hitting the road
“Our biggest mistake though was not hitting the road and touring the country. Oh, we had the offers but we never did take ‘em up on ‘em. We could have made $100 playing ball in those days and that was a lot of money then.”
The brothers, Gilbert, Faye and Muggs, all have their particular stories to tell an eager sports writer.
The funniest comes from Muggs: “How about that time, with the bases loaded, we got a full count on that batter. It was getting dark and we wanted to get the game over quick. So’s Faye still has the ball in his catcher’s mitt and Gilly winds up and pretend to throw the ball.
“You should have seen it….Bens smacks the mitt…the ump calls strike three and the batter starts arguing. But what do you think he’s arguing about? He’s telling the ump that the pitch was a mile outside.”
And so goes the legend of the baseball brother act called the Newell Nine.
The legend still lives in Belvidere…from generation to generation.
CAPTION
Plankington’s Gashouse Gang
While the St. Louis Cardinals ‘Gashouse Gang’ were tearing up the National League in the 1930s, a group of brothers from Plankington, S.D., were also doing their thing before large crowds. The brothers, the Newell Nine, have the distinction of being the only all-brother baseball team in the history of the sport. From left to right, back row: Bill, Dee, Faye, Dillie and Gus. Front row: Ike, Jim, Louie, Muggs, Gilbert and Ben.
<Eric’s Note> – the caption in this article is incorrect as the front row names are reversed and the person listed as Ben is really Leslie (Jim is Ben’s nickname)
Eric's space 
Eric, I just came across your article when I was bragging to some co-workers about my Great Uncles. The Newell Nine were my great uncles and one of the girls was my Grama. My Dad was named after Great Uncle Faye. My Dad did a family tree on his Dad’s side but I never knew much about my Gramas other than their claim to fame. I did meet a couple of them many many years ago. Also when I was around 8 we went down to South Dakota to visit with my Great Aunt and some Great Uncles. When I realized you were a Newelll I just had to write you and say “hello”