Remembering Carl Hubbell, the Pitcher Who Invented the Screwball

Since baseball is increasingly unlikely for 2020, now is the time to return to the history books. Fans who became baseball-enamored after MLB’s 1969 expansion will find today’s dinosaur-era tale hard to fathom. In 1933, in the first doubleheader game between the New York Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, Jints starter Carl Hubbell pitched an 18-inning, 1-0 complete game win. In the nightcap, the Giants’ side arming flamethrower Roy Parmelee bested the Cards Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean in another 1-0 complete game. Dean pitched on one day’s rest.

Regularly scheduled doubleheaders, once a highly anticipated cornerstone of the baseball schedule, haven’t been played in decades. When owners caught on to the financial reality that they were giving away two games for the price of one, doubleheaders abruptly ended. Occasionally, rainouts will force teams to play day-night doubleheaders, but penurious owners demand two separate admissions.

For the Giants, 1933 was a pivotal year. Manager Bill Terry replaced baseball icon John J. McGraw. Terry’s career included a .401 batting average that helped him end his playing days, all with the Giants, with a .341 average. Baseball analysts are nearly unanimous that “Little Napoleon” was the best-ever manager. Over 33 years piloting the National and American League Baltimore Orioles and the Giants, McGraw compiled 2,763 wins and a .586 winning percentage. His teams won 10 National League pennants and three World Series championships, and had 11 second-place finishes.

McGraw was blunt about taking claim for his teams’ successes, while he minimized his players’ contributions. In his wonderful book, “Spring Training in Sarasota, 1924-1960,” author Jeff LaHurd cites McGraw: “I think we can win if my brain holds out.” Players wisely learned not to challenge the authoritarian McGraw. As McGraw said in response to a player’s innocent question about in-game strategy, the manager barked: “Don’t ever talk to me. I speak to you, and you just shut up!”

Back to that rainy July afternoon when Hubbell dominated. The Cardinal lineup included four Hall of Fame batsmen: Frankie Frisch, Ducky Medwick, Pepper Martin and Rogers Hornsby. Yet Hubbell struck out 12, and walked none. Cards losing pitcher, Tex Carleton, was almost as good as Hubbell; he pitched 16 shutout innings before giving way to a relief hurler. Hubbell’s 18 innings are roughly the equivalent to three games pitched by today’s starters who average six innings per outing.

As for Dean’s start with one day’s rest, managers are reluctant to use relief pitchers on consecutive days even for a fraction of an inning. Eventually referred to as the Giants’ “Meal Ticket” or “King” Carl, Hubbell had an outstanding 1933 season that led him to that year’s Most Valuable Player award and eventually to the Hall of Fame. A New York Giant for life, Hubbell won 253 games, including five straight 21 game winning seasons, earned nine All-Star Game selections and was a two-time MVP – 1933 and 1936 – the latter on the National League’s first unanimous vote.

Baseball credits Hubbell with inventing the screwball. When released with the left hand in a counterclockwise motion, the baseball spins elusively away from the batter. Advised by his catcher Gabby “Old Tomato Face” Hartnett to rely on his baffling screwball, Hubbell in the 1934 All-Star Game consecutively struck out Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. The five combined for a collective .329 batting average that included 13,452 hits and 2,208 home runs.

As McGraw predicted during spring training, the 1933 Giants won the pennant, and then dominated the Washington Senators in the World Series, 4-1. Hubbell started two of the five games, pitched 20 innings, and allowed no earned runs in two complete games.

After he retired, Hubbell’s peers said that his pitching style was akin to an artist painting a portrait; every stroke of the brush had a purpose. Post-career, Hubbell served as the Giants’ farm director and part-time scout for 33 years until, at age 85, he died after an automobile accident.

Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.