Carl Hubbell
CARL HUBBELL was one of the greatest lefthanded pitchers in major league history. With his famous and lethal screwball, Hubbell won 253 games against only 154 losses for a sparkling .622 winning percentage. In the 1934 All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds in New York, Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin in succession. For five straight seasons (1933 to '37), Hubbell won more than 20 games for the New York Giants, highlighted by his two MVP seasons in '33 and '36. In 1933, he went 23-12 with 10 shutouts and a microscopic 1.66 ERA. In 1936, he went 26-6 with a 2.31 earned run average. With a career 2.98 lifetime ERA, Hubbell earned nine all-star team berths and he helped the Giants win the World Series in 1933 against the Washington Senators. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947, Hubbell was nicknamed "The Mealticket" for his winning ways. Although he was born in 1903 in Carthage, Mo., he grew up in Meeker, Okla., where today there is an impressive display of his memorabilia (a sort of mini-museum) inside the local fire department.
