Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott forever are linked as teammates, friends, road roommates, Hall of Famers and, tragically, by a bizarre twist of fate.
On Nov. 21, 1988, Hubbell, 85, died in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital from injuries suffered in a car accident two days earlier.
Hubbell’s death occurred 30 years to the day Ott died under eerily similar circumstances. On Nov. 21, 1958, Ott, 49, died in a New Orleans hospital from injuries suffered in a car accident a week earlier.
Hubbell was the ace pitcher and Ott the home run slugger who spent their entire major-league playing careers with the Giants.
Ott, 17, debuted with the Giants in 1926 and Hubbell, 25, joined them in 1928. They roomed together on road trips from the time Hubbell arrived with the Giants until he pitched his last game in 1943, according to the Associated Press. Both men had low-key personalities and friendly demeanors and genuinely liked one another.
Hubbell was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947 and Ott was inducted four years later in 1951.
When Ott died, Hubbell told the New York Daily News, “I’m heartsick. Mel was one of my closest friends.”
Perfect pitch
Hubbell was born in Carthage, Mo., and grew up on a cotton and pecan farm near Meeker, Okla.
In 1924, when he turned 21, Hubbell signed with a minor-league club in Oklahoma and taught himself to throw a pitch known as a “reverse curve” or “fadeaway.”
When right-handers Christy Mathewson of the Giants and Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Cardinals threw the “reverse curve,” it broke in to right-handed batters and away from left-handed ones. As a left-hander, Hubbell’s version broke in to left-handed batters and away from right-handed ones.
In 1925, when Hubbell was tossing the pitch in warmups, the catcher said, “That’s the screwiest thing I ever saw,” and the “reverse curve” became known as a screwball, according to The Sporting News.
Hubbell’s success with the pitch attracted the interest of major-league scouts and in August 1925 the Tigers acquired him from the Oklahoma City club in the Western League.
The Tigers invited Hubbell to spring training in 1926 and 1927 but returned him to the minor leagues both times. According to the Associated Press, a Tigers coach, believing Hubbell would hurt his arm throwing a screwball, told him, “Don’t fool with that. Forget it.”
“So I forget it,” said Hubbell, “and Detroit forgot me.”
The Tigers sold Hubbell’s contract to a minor-league club in Beaumont, Texas, in April 1928. Giants scout Dick Kinsella liked what he saw from Hubbell there and on July 12, 1928, the Giants purchased his contract. Two weeks later, Hubbell made his big-league debut.
Big winner
Hubbell’s most celebrated performance came in the 1934 All-Star Game when he struck out five future Hall of Famers, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin, in succession. Boxscore
“My style of pitching was to make the other team hit the ball, but on the ground,” Hubbell told writer John P. Carmichael. “It was as big a surprise to me to strike out all those fellows as it probably was to them.”
The all-star feat got the glory, but in games that counted in the standings Hubbell’s most impressive outing occurred against the Cardinals.
On July 2, 1933, in the opener of a Sunday doubleheader at the Polo Grounds in New York, Hubbell pitched an 18-inning shutout in the Giants’ 1-0 victory over the Cardinals.
Hubbell held the Cardinals to six hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 12. He retired 20 batters in a row from the seventh inning to the 13th and only one Cardinals runner reached third.
Cardinals starter Tex Carleton nearly matched Hubbell, pitching 16 scoreless innings before he was relieved by Jesse Haines. In the 18th, with Giants runners on first and third, two outs, Hughie Critz “shot a single past Haines’ left ear,” scoring Jo-Jo Moore, the St. Louis Star-Times reported. When Moore touched the plate, “a deafening roar went up and straw hats, torn programs and other debris rained upon the turf,” according to the New York Daily News. Boxscore
Hubbell pitched 16 seasons (1928-43) for the Giants and had a record of 253-154 with a 2.98 ERA. He twice won the National League Most Valuable Player Award (1933 and 1936), pitched in three World Series (1933, 1936 and 1937) and was a nine-time all-star.
Hubbell earned 21 wins or more in five consecutive seasons (1933-37) and in 1933 he led the league in wins (23), ERA (1.66), shutouts (10) and innings (308.2). He won 24 consecutive regular-season decisions over a two-year period (1936-37). Flagstaff Film clip of Hubbell vs. Cardinals on July 21, 1938.
Throwing the screwball eventually took a physical toll on him. When Hubbell’s left arm was at rest, his palm faced out instead of in. “I couldn’t get over Hubbell’s hand,” writer Roger Angell observed. “It was like meeting a gladiator who bore scars inflicted at the Colosseum.”
Eye for talent
Following his retirement as a player after the 1943 season, Hubbell became Giants farm director and rebuilt their sagging minor-league system. Among the prospects the Giants developed under Hubbell were Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry.
Hubbell made all decisions on which prospects the Giants would draft and which of the organization’s minor-league players got promotions, the San Francisco Examiner reported.
He was Giants farm director for 34 years until a stroke forced him to give up the job in 1977 at age 74. The stroke “left him unable to walk for a while and caused slurred speech,” according to the Arizona Republic. Hubbell had a second stroke in 1984, but continued to do scouting for the Giants in Arizona.
Hubbell lived in an apartment in Mesa, Ariz., not far from the Giants’ spring training base. “I get along all right,” Hubbell said to the New York Daily News in 1987. “When I can get to the car, I go to the post office, the bank, different places you have to go. There’s nothing wrong with the car. Only me.”
He ate breakfast at the counter of a Mesa restaurant every other morning and that’s where he was headed on Nov. 19, 1988, when he lost control of his car and hit a metal pole after suffering an apparent stroke, according to police reports.
Hubbell, who was alone in the car, was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Scottsdale, Ariz. He died of head and chest injuries two days later. He was survived by two sons and two grandchildren. His wife, Lucille, whom he married in 1930, died in 1967.
In citing his “consistency of excellence” as a pitcher, the New York Times noted, “Hubbell’s businesslike demeanor on and off the pitching mound contrasted with more colorful, eccentric pitchers of his era, like Lefty Gomez of the Yankees and Dizzy Dean of the Cardinals. Hubbell won respect and attention solely from on-field performances.”
Dizzy Dean was a screwball, and Carl Hubbell threw one.
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According to my research, in his 7 seasons with Cardinals, Dizzy Dean started 10 times against Carl Hubbell. Hubbell won 6 of those head-to-head matchups and Dean won 4. Dean won 3 of the first 4; Hubbell won 5 of the last 6. In 1937, Dean spoke at a dinner in Belleville, Ill., and said Hubbell was “the greatest pitcher I ever laid my eyes on and I will put him up against any of the old-timers they carry on about so much.” In 1938, Hubbell said Dean “has the greatest pitching sense of any man I ever saw,” according to the book “Diz” by Robert Gregory.
That book sits proudly on my bookshelf.
I wouldn’t kid Diz if I didn’t love him.
What a treat it was for fans in the 1930s who got to see Hubbell and Dean duel one another. Two masters with opposite styles; one lefty, the other righty; one a screwball artist; the other a fastball pitcher; one quiet; the other a showboat. Dean could hit but he batted .095 (2-for-21) vs. Hubbell. In their first encounter, on Aug. 26, 1932, Hubbell hit a home run, but Dean got the win.
If only MLB had more film to study. God, what a treat that would be.
There seems to be some confusion about whether Hubbell, as Farm Director, was actually responsible for drafting/signing talent. The longtime player personnel chief, career overlapping Hubbell’s, was Jack Schwartz. The best story is probably about Tom Seaver. When the signing of Seaver by the Braves was ruled illegal, all teams were invited to enter a lottery for $50k. The Giants’ SoCal scout told Schwartz to be sure and get in the lottery, ut it thrned out only the Indians, Phillies and Mets anted up. The scout asked Schwartz WTF? And Schwartz said owner Horace Stoneham thought the team already had enough pitching. No mention of Hubbell.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the information.