This was a peaceful hubbub, though, as “King” Carl Hubbell, near the top of the voting in his first five COG ballot appearances, was a popular selection in earning induction in the 92nd round of COG balloting. In a close two-way race, Hubbell edged Paul Waner, with Roy Campanella placing third and collecting an additional round of guaranteed COG eligibility.
More on Hubbell after the jump.
Last round, COG voters gave the nod to Lefty Grove, the dominant AL pitcher of his time. Thus, it’s only fitting that the choice this time is Hubbell, another southpaw and Grove’s contemporary, and THE dominant NL pitcher of that time. How dominant was Hubbell? Consider these NL superlatives for the 1929-39 period in which Hubbell posted 11 consecutive qualifying seasons with ERA+ never lower than 118.
- 1st in ERA, ERA+, WHIP, IP, Starts, Complete Games, Shutouts, Strikeouts, Wins and W-L%
- 2nd in BB/9 and SO/BB
- 3rd in FIP
Along the way, Hubbell led his league:
- 6 times in WHIP (led majors 4 times)
- 5 times in SO/BB ratio (led majors 5 times)
- 3 times in Wins, ERA, ERA+ and H/9 ratio
For all of the majors over that 11-year period, Hubbell recorded 4 of the top 10 seasons for WHIP (the top 4 scores of the period) and for ERA+ and SO/BB ratio, and 3 of the top 10 seasons for ERA.
Hubbell was the first live ball era pitcher with four consecutive (1933-36) 300 IP seasons (he is still the only pitcher to do that while also finishing 5 or more games in relief in each of those seasons). Those four seasons and the one before (age 29-33) were Hubbell’s peak during which he posted a sparkling 2.40 ERA and 154 ERA+, both tops in the majors. How good was that? The majors’ next best ERA for those seasons was 2.80 by Lon Warneke with Hubbell’s Giant teammate Hal Schumacher the only other hurler under 3.00. Hubbell’s WHIP was also best a wide margin, .135 better (1.215 W+H per 9 IP better) than Warneke, while his SO/BB was 0.36 better than fireballer Dizzy Dean. That peak places Hubbell among the best live ball era pitchers aged 29-33. His 2.40 ERA is second only to Bob Gibson‘s 2.29, and his 111 wins trails only Grove. In addition, for that age range, Hubbell ranks top 5 since 1920 in ERA+, IP, CG, WHIP and BB/9.
Hubbell also shone in the post-season, with a stellar 1.79 ERA in 6 World Series starts, the first three all complete game wins allowing one earned run or less, a streak surpassed only by Christy Mathewson‘s run of four such games. Included was an 11-inning 2-1 win in game 4 of the 1933 series, the longest WS start by an NL pitcher allowing only one run (it was unearned). That was part of a run of 22 consecutive World Series innings without an earned run allowed, still the longest stretch to begin a live ball era World Series career by an NL starting pitcher (Madison Bumgarner is next on the list with 21 consecutive shutout innings before the Royals scored in the 7th inning of last season’s WS opener).
Quiz: Hubbell was the first NL pitcher to go undefeated in 4 WS complete games, a record he still holds with Lew Burdette and Sandy Koufax. Before Hubbell, which three NL pitchers had gone undefeated in 3 WS complete games?
