Carl Hubbell

Carl Hubbell
debut
July 26, 1928, New York Giants
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
As Player New York Giants (1928-1943)

Carl Owen Hubbell (June 22, 1903 - November 21, 1988) was a left-handed screwball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Giants in the National League from 1928 to 1943.

Hubbell was born in Carthage, Missouri. Nicknamed "King Carl" by the fans and "The Meal Ticket" by his teammates, Hubbell played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League in 1926, going 7-7 on a championship team. The next year, he played with the Decatur Commodores of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League before getting to the major leagues in 1928 at age 25. Hubbell would go 10-6 in his first major league season, and would pitch his entire career for the Giants. With a slow delivery of his devastating screwball, Hubbell recorded five consecutive 20-win seasons for the Giants (1933-37), and helped his team to three NL pennants and the 1933 World Series title. In the 1933 Series, he won two complete game victories, including an 11-inning 2-1 triumph in Game Four (the run was unearned). In six career Series starts, he was 4-2 with 32 strikeouts and a low 1.79 earned run average.

Template:MLB HoF In the 1934 All-Star game played at the Polo Grounds, Hubbell set a record by striking out in succession five batters destined for Cooperstown: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. In 1984, the 50th anniversary of this legendary performance, the National League pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden combined to fan six batters in a row for a new All-Star Game record (future Hall of Famers Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, and George Brett by Valenzuela; Lance Parrish, Chet Lemon, and Alvin Davis by Gooden). Hubbell himself was on hand for the 1984 All-Star Game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park to throw out the first pitch (a screwball of course).

Hubbell finished his career with a 253-154 record, 1678 strikeouts, 724 walks, 36 shutouts and a 2.97 ERA, in 3590 innings pitched. After his retirement, Hubbell served as director of the Giants' minor league organization and director of player development for 35 years. The last 10 years of his life were spent as a Giants scout. Hubbell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947. He was the first NL player to have his number (11) retired.

Hubbell died due to injuries sustained in an auto accident in Scottsdale, Arizona at 85 years of age. He is interred at Meeker-Newhope Cemetery in Meeker, Oklahoma.

In 1999, he ranked number 45 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Highlights

• Won 24 consecutive games between 1936 (16) & 1937 (8), the longest such streak ever recorded in either the National league or American League.
• Twice named National League MVP (1933, 1936)
• 9-time All-Star (1933-38, 1940-42)
• 3 times led the league in wins: 1933 (23), 1936 (26), 1937 (22)
• 3 times led the league in ERA: 1933 (1.66), 1934 (2.30), 1936 (2.31)
• Led the league in innings pitched, 1933 (308)
• Led the league in strikeouts, 1937 (159)
• Led the league in strikeouts/9 innings pitched, 1938 (5.23)
• Led the league in shutouts, 1933 (10)
• Led the league in saves, 1934 (8, retroactively credited)
• Compiled a streak of 46 1/3 scoreless innings and four shutouts (1933)
• Pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates (11-0, May 8, 1929)
• Pitched an 18-innings shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals (1-0, July 2, 1933)

Trivia

• Hubbell's primary pitch was always the screwball, a particulary difficult ball to throw, and one that places an unusual amount of stress on a pitcher's arm. However, he threw it so frequently and for so many years that his left arm became permanently twisted, leaving his left palm facing outward at arm's rest.

See also

• List of MLB individual streaks
• Baseball Hall of Fame

External links

• Official site
• Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics from Baseball Reference
• BaseballLibrary