OCR Text |
Show mm 'T'HIS seems to be a good spot in which to pay additional tribute to a fellow by the name of Carl Owen Hubbell, a pitcher for Mel Ott's New York Giants. After taking in all the testimony available from Mel Ott, his fellow Giants and his opponents from the National and American league, Carl Hubbell comes closer to being: "The perfect bull player" than any one we've ever known. There is, of course, no such word as "perfection" in the human layout. lay-out. It is the closest approach to perfection that one must consider. "Here is what Carl Hubbell has," Mel Ott told me. "Just check against it" "Skill, courage, brains, modesty, humility, loyalty, stamina, the will to win, concentration, physical tit-ness tit-ness 100 per cent of which qualities quali-ties he has at every start." This happens to be a fair collection collec-tion of worthwhile ingredients in an age where such features as "modesty," "mod-esty," "humility," "loyalty," "stam-ina" "stam-ina" and "concentration" are often well below par. sum, courage and brains combined com-bined in one system are rare enough. But these qualities are usually accompanied ac-companied by arrogance, over-confidence, physical unfitness and spot-1 ty concentration. About Carl Hubbell Lon Warneke, the tobacco chewer from Mt. Ida, Ark., one of (he best pitchers in the game, said recently that Hubbell was the greatest pitcher pitch-er he had ever seen. "That tells only half the story," Mel Ott said. "Carl Hubbell is the 2r ""-,) y '-y'iJ : t If CARL HUBBELL most remarkable man I've ever known in baseball." When he started this season with the Giants back in April, he was 39 years old. He had been a star pitcher pitch-er for 20 years. We kicked away one game after another back of him. He never had a complaint He had lost six of his first seven starts. He took all the blame. But in place of losing heart he kept working just as hard and then won his next six straight starts." "It doesn't make any difference how many errors you make back of Carl. He takes the blame. He never nev-er has an alibi or an excuse. II took him five years through seven different towns to reach the Giantf In 1928, but this never slowed him down. He has been their star evet since he arrived." "Carl has won 19 games in a row. He fanned five of the greatest hitters the American league ever knew in succession. He has won four of his six World Series starts He won 116 games in five years for the Giants, a remarkable record with only a fair hitting ball club But that's only a small part of the real Carl Hubbell." Still Learning "Hubbell, after 20 years, Is still learning. When he sits on the bench he watches every batter that comes to the plate. He watches every pitcher pitch-er to see just what he has. He works Just as hard when he Isn't pitching as he does In the box. The greatest pitcher of them all, he takes nothing for granted. Dur ing a game, even wncn be la on the bench, he overlooks nothing. 'e rarely says a word. "His whole heart and soul are in that ball game and that's after 20 years of competition. He Is just as keen to win now I think even keen-er keen-er than he was at his prime. "And through it all he is the most modest man I ever knew. If Carl won 40 consecutive games, if he broke every pitching record, he would still be the same quiet, loyal, modest fellow trying to learn and giving all the credit to the team." I talked with several of the Giants about Hubbell. "He is under one tough handicap," handi-cap," a Giant veteran said, "When Carl pitches we all are so keen to . win for him that we tighten up. We know there's no one like him. We'd break a leg and an arm to win for him. So at'timcs we get over anxious, anx-ious, try too hard, and lose games he should have won. But you can make six errors back of Hub and you'll never hear a squawk. When he loses he is the one who takes the ' blame. When he wins it's the team that did it." |